10
High Performance Coaching
Vol. 11, No. 2
The USTA Newsletter for Tennis Coaches
2010
The USTA Newsletter for Tennis Coaches
2010
Do Differences Exist
Between Men and Women
Tennis Players?
by Ola Malmqvist - Head of Women's Tennis
As a coach, it is clear to us that some differences do
exist between the men's and women's game at the
junior, collegiate and professional levels. The purpose
of this article is for all of us to keep these points in mind
when developing players to see if we can limit some of
the traditional areas of weakness and also continue to
improve the areas of strength in female tennis players.
SPIN
In general women play with less spin, part of it can
be a strength issue but women usually also have less
shoulder and hip rotation and less use of the wrist,
especially on the forehand side, which result in less
racket head speed and power. Some good examples of
players who you can watch are Agnieszka Radwanska
and Maria Sharapova.
FOREHAND
Women rotate less than men on their forehand, but
overall use their legs better than men on the two-handed
backhand. Two good examples of effective backhands
with great lower body involvement are Elena Dementieva
and Aravane Rezai.
PLAYING STYLE
Women usually take the ball earlier, hit with less spin and
play closer to the baseline then their male counterparts. A
great example of this would be Marion Bartoli.
This works fine as long as you don't get "stuck" too
close to the baseline when your opponent hits great
shots or has very good court position. In these scenarios
the player needs to gain time to stay in the point by
effectively giving ground to eventually take ground on the
following stroke if a good enough shot was hit.
RETURN OF SERVE
Women stand up closer and try to take the ball earlier
when they return first serves. Obviously most serves are
weaker than in the men's game and standing up close
allows the returner to put pressure on the server. The one
concern with this strategy is when a server is making a lot
of first serves, the returner may not make as many returns;
therefore, not allowing themselves to get started in enough
points to threaten the server. Iveta Benesova and Petra
Kvitova would be two good examples of this strategy.
SERVE
Women typically have less pace and spin on their
serves than comparable male players. Many female
servers are outside the range of acceptable technical
parameters for certain components of the serve. One
example is the lack of acceptable shoulder and hip turn.
When the initial shoulder and hip turn is not enough,
the player opens up their shoulders and hips too much
and too early in the motion. Another common area that
many female players struggle with is the effective use
of the back leg and they rely on their arm and bending
the waist to get power. A couple of good examples of
players who could utilize the back leg further would be
Alona Bondarenko and Vera Zvonareva.
Maria Sharapova in the fourth round of the 2010 US Open.
Kvitkova returning serve during the 2010 Olympus US Open Series.
Zvonareva serving during the 2010 US Open in Flushing
Meadows, New York.