Acceleration and rotation rate profile comparison from inertial sensors mounted on the service arm between tennis players of different skill level

Abstract

Biomechanical performance is an important factor for developing tennis players. The tennis serve happens so quickly that it can be difficult for even the trained eye of an experienced coach to identify the miniscule movement differences that can make the difference between being a successful player and not. Traditionally, biomechanical information is captured with an optical-marker system, which is expensive and requires a specialized team to operate (Tanabe & Ito, 2007). Advances in wearable sensor technology means that it might one day be possible to measure kinematics from sensors embedded in athletic clothing. Currently, there are inertial sensors which can be used in training, but are too cumbersome for an athlete to wear in a game situation. The initial step is to use these sensors to determine what type of information it is possible to get from inertial sensors on the athlete, which is the purpose of this study.