The expert eye? An inter-rater comparison of elite tennis serve kinematics and performance

Abstract

This study examined the reliability of expert tennis coaches/biomechanists to qualitatively assess selected features of the serve with the aid of two-dimensional (2D) video replays. Two expert high-performance coaches rated the serves of 150 male and 150 female players across three different age groups from two different camera viewing angles. Serve performance was rated across 13 variables that represented commonly investigated and coached (serve) mechanics using a 1–7 Likert rating scale. A total of 7800 ratings were performed. The reliability of the experts’ ratings was assessed using a Krippendorffs alpha. Strong agreement was shown across all age groups and genders when the experts rated the overall serve score (0.727–0.924), power or speed of the serve (0.720–0.907), rhythm (0.744–0.944), quality of the trunk action (0.775–1.000), leg drive (0.731–0.959) and the likelihood of back injury (0.703–0.934). They encountered greater difficulty in consistently rating shoulder internal rotation speed (0.688–0.717). In high-performance settings, the desire for highly precise measurement and large data sets powered by new technologies, is commonplace but this study revealed that tennis experts, through the use of 2D video, can reliably rate important mechanical features of the game’s most important shot, the serve.