The effect of imagery in the tennis service precision and performance

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether an imagery training intervention program could affect the performance of junior Brazilian tennis players in two distinct situations: (1) serving without precision and (2) serving at a target with precision. The study used a quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest and a control group. Data we recollected from a sample of 46 junior male tennis players with ages ranging from 14 to 16 years old (mean 15.06 ± 0.83), all formally registered with the state tennis federation of Paraná, Brazil. The subjects were divided into two groups: (G1) Technical practice only, used as a control group (n=24); (G2) Imagery group, given imagery training as well as technical practice (n=22). The data were analyzed using analysis of variance (2x2x2) for repetitive measures to p< 0.05. The results demonstrated an effect (p< 0.05) between experimental and control groups in the situation “service without precision”. However, the difference in the situation of “service with precision” was not significant (p> 0.5). These results demonstrate the effectiveness of imagery training for building self confidence to improve performance, but only in the situation that did not require motor precision. It can be concluded that, imagery is a reliable method for improving service performance in tennis and should be used in a specific manner for specific situations, primarily those which require more improvement in performance-related factors.