Hitting power in relation to the choice of racket

1. ELITE TENNIS PLAYERS:
HITTING POWER IN RELATION TO THE CHOICE OF RACKET
theShire
- Ha Nguyen
- Hung Nguyen
- Anh Van
- Nhat Khong
- Kien Nguyen
“I’ll let the racquet do
the talking”
John McEnroe

2. In elite players, a minor change can lead to major improvements. A better racquet
choice could enhance key performance indicators and thus, change the game
CONFORT
Vibration & joint
loading
POWER
Ball
speedSPIN - RPM
CONTROL
Distance from
target
Blade 98 S
Pure Drive
Four key performance indicators
Having the right racquet can enhances performance
by 2-5% (*)
Data source: (*) Tennis Lab, Game Insight Group (GIG), Tennis Australia
AVERAGE SPEED BY RACKET MODEL BY GENDER
Female Male
SPEED
RACKET MODEL
SPEED
RACKET MODEL
HIGHLOW
HIGHLOW
▪ As observed from our dataset, each racquet model (with different
specs) differently affects player’s hitting power (speed of ball)
▪ Each gender has their own optimized racquet model

3. How rackets specs affect hitting power?
Data description, limitations and methodologies
▪ Data on racket specs, shot types, speed and
players are collected by Game Insight Group,
Tennis Australia
LIMITATIONS OF DATA
Only one racket model is
recorded for each player
Ball speed is the only
performance indicator
No details on players, i.e. height,
weight, rank
Records do not cover full
spectrum of racket specs, i.e.
range of length is around 27
inch
Dirty data (duplications and
ambiguous info)
ASSUMPTIONS & METHODOLOGIES
▪ Amongst female and male groups, players from each gender group have the same
level of skill and physical characteristics
Impact
location
Ball speed
Players
(gender)
String specs
Racket
specs
Racket
Define the
problem:
How rackets
specs affect
hitting power
1
DATA SCIENCE PROCESS
Understanding of
data (EDA, data
visualization)
2
DATA RESOURCES
Racket
features
Shot type Performance
by gender
Performance
by shot types
Data wrangling
Filter out dirty data
Data modeling
Regression model,
TSEN, PCA, decision
tree, etc.
4
3
Data source: Game Insight Group (GIG), Tennis Australia

4. Association between high-impact features and ball speed on the serves & groundstrokes
ELITE PLAYERS
GROUNDSTROKES
Data source: Game Insight Group (GIG), Tennis Australia
▪ A particular racket feature poses diverse effects on speed of
ball on serves and groundstrokes across two gender groups
▪ Female and Male players: The two gender groups have two
distinctive sets of high-impact factors. Some racket features,
such as mains gauge and swing-weight have completely
different effects on female vs. male players. On the other hand,
some features can be beneficial on serves but disadvantageous
on groundstrokes, and vice versa. For instance:
▪ For male, swing-weight is positively correlated with speed
on serves but negatively on groundstrokes.
▪ However, this feature has a negative correlation with
speed only on serves for female.
▪ Racket length: According to our model, adjustment towards
racket length (within the acceptable length range) would largely
impact on ball speed. This feature has the highest impact on
hitting power both on the serves and groundstrokes, however in
opposite directions. Highlighted that this correlation holds
consistently across female and male groups. In summary:
▪ Serves: the shorter the better
▪ Groundstrokes: the longer the better
Female
Male
Length
Balance
Swing-weight
Mass
Stiffness
Head size
SERVES GROUNDSTROKES
LengthBalance
Swing-weight
Stiffness
Head size
Cross gauge
SERVES
Mains gauge
Mains tension
Cross gauge
Cross tension
Mains gauge
Mass
Mains tension
Cross tension
SERVES GROUNDSTROKES
Positive correlation
Negative correlation
Positive correlation
Negative correlation
CORRELATION BETWEEN RACKET FEATURES AND SPEED BALL
ELITE PLAYERS

5. Recommendation 1:
Manufacturers optimize model performance by adjusting specifications
STABILITYOFSPEED
High speed and low stabilityLow speed and low stability
High speed and high stabilityLow speed and high stability
SPEED
Speed of shot in m/s2 ILLUSTRATIVE ONLY
MALE PLAYERS
HIGHLOW
HIGHLOW
Play Pure Drive
Burn 95
STABILITYOFSPEED
High speed and low stabilityLow speed and low stability
High speed and high stabilityLow speed and high stability
SPEED
Speed of shot in m/s2 ILLUSTRATIVE ONLY
SPEED AND STABILITY MATRIX
HIGHLOW
HIGHLOW
Juice 100
Ezone DR 100 (300g)
FEMALE PLAYERS
▪ The trade-off between
average speed and
stability of speed
▪ Some models achieve
both high average speed
and stability e.g. Play
Pure Drive, Burn
95, Juice 100, Ezone DR
100 (300g)
▪ By adjusting the
specifications,
manufacturers can
improve the
performance of a specific
model

6. Recommendation 2:
Enhance customer shopping experience by introducing “Racquet scoring system”
Overall Score: 86
SPEED
SPIN
CONTROL
COMFORT
17
28.5
16.9
22.6
27
95
304
68
32.2
316
String
Main Gauge
Main Tension
Cross Gauge
Cross Tension
Length
Head Size
Mass
Stiffness
Balance Strung
Swing Weight
Racquet
Score racquets
based on
customized
specifications
Integrate to existing
tennis racquet e-
commerce websites
Enhance customer
shopping experience
in choosing racquets
for the right purpose
and preferences
Gender
Male
Female
Price: $350
Data source: Game Insight Group (GIG),Tennis Australia

7. Conclusion
FINDINGS
▪ Shot power is affected by gender and shot types
▪ Length is the most dominant factor in determining racquet performance
▪ The trade-off between speed and stability
RECOMMENDATIONS
▪ Improving racquet power by adjusting the right specifications
▪ Scoring racquet system based on personal preferences