Technical And Tatical Characteristics Of Elite Male Tennis Players In The First And Last Point Of Each Game On Hard Court

The "cold-blood killer" Ivan Lendl believed that the most important points in tennis match are the first point and the last point. The first point is believed to be playing a vital part in each game of a tennis match because of the fact that, while one player was gaining a mental advantage from winning the first point, the other however, was forced to make shot selections from a point-behind mental situation. According to the theory of "score determines shots", that score pressure somehow will influence the shots selection tennis player make. The last point of course, is regarded more decisive in tennis game for the truth that, in spite of how extremely fantastic the game journey looks like, the result of the game itself will always be determined directed by the last point which is believed to be the essential of tennis game——a tennis match is determined by the winning of the last point.Technical and tactical characteristics of elite male tennis player in the first and the last point of each game on hard court was discussed in this article through video recording and statistics analysis. A few conclusions are reached as following:1,For the first point of each game:Serve and Attack: Move-the-opponent play was used as the dominated tactic with wide serve and attack the other side in the third shot being at high percentage. Weakness attack was played as the second excessive shot-combination with middle serve and attack the backhand side. Andy murray and Roger federer are regeard as representative of each style respectively. Serve return: cross-line are hit from cross line, while deep shot to the body are hit from middle serve. Backhand side are mostly the stroke target made by the returner.Baseline game:weakness attack was used as dominated play with a high stroke percentage of 48% being hit to the backhand side. Weakness attack again was the dominated play used when encounter top players such Rafael nadal and Roger federer.2,For the last point of each game:Server leading the game:the same as the first point. Server being behind:Serve:serve tend to be hit to a particular spot with purpose compared to the first point with Andy Roddick hitting 36% of body serve. Serve and attack:wide serve and attack the backhand side were the most dominated shot combination with weakness attack still being the most dominated and a significant difference found compared to the first point. Different tactics are used against top players accordingly.