Grunting in tennis increases ball velocity but not oxygen cost

Enhancing Groundstrokes Velocity and Accuracy in Post-pubertal and Adult Tennis Players: A Systematic Review of Interventions

This study aimed to gather a compilation of intervention studies that address whether there are ways to get post-pubertal and adult tennis players of intermediate or higher level to enhance the velocity and accuracy of their groundstrokes. After searching Web of Science, Scopus, and SportDiscus, 10 articles were analyzed. Findings from training protocol studies revealed that strength endurance sessions or medicine ball throws do not significantly affect the speed or accuracy of serves, forehands, and backhands. Similarly, wristbands with small weights used during on-court training also did not impact performance, without compromising technical tennis skills. However, a 6-week strength training program involving medicine ball throws or heavier rackets improved forehand stroke speed but reduced hitting accuracy. Additionally, vision training improved accuracy and speed in forehands, accuracy in backhands, and both accuracy and speed in serves. High-intensity interval training that included hitting drills did not improve stroke accuracy and temporarily reduced stroke speed and efficiency during sessions, although it increased maximal aerobic power. Notably, the use of motor imagery during recovery periods in high-intensity-interval-training helped maintain on-court performance. Proper training periodization leads to better adaptations and improvements. The studies also identified that grunting was found to improve stroke speed during forehand and backhand strokes without affecting perceived exertion, oxygen consumption, or fatigue. Regarding supplementation, a 10-week creatine regimen did not significantly affect serve speed, forehand speed, or backhand speed. These findings aim to optimize tennis players' performance by identifying effective training strategies.

The sound of speed: How grunting affects opponents' anticipation in tennis

Grunting in tennis is a widespread phenomenon and whether it influences opponents’ predictions of ball trajectory—and if so, why—is subject of ongoing debate. Two alternative hypotheses have been proposed to explain why grunting may impede opponents’ predictions, referred to as the distraction account (i.e., grunts capture attentional resources necessary for anticipation) and the multisensory integration account (i.e., auditory information from the grunt systematically influences ball trajectory prediction typically assumed to rely on visual information). To put these competing hypotheses to test, in the current study we presented tennis players with a series of temporally occluded video clips of tennis rallies featuring experimentally amplified, attenuated, or muted grunting sounds. Participants were asked to predict the ball landing position. Results indicated that higher grunt intensities yielded judgments of longer ball trajectories whereas radial prediction errors were not affected. These results are clearly at odds with the distraction account of grunting, predicting increased prediction errors after higher intensity grunts. In contrast, our findings provide strong support for the multisensory integration account by demonstrating that grunt intensity systematically influences judgments of ball trajectory.