Relationship of grip strength and tennis ability

Abstract

The intent of this study was to determine if grip strength is a significant factor in measuring tennis ability. (Will students with greater grip strength score higher on tennis ability tests)? The tennis ability tests used were The Revised Dyer Backboard Tennis Test and The Broer-Miller Drive Test. The grip testing instrument was the 69A-3-4 hand dynamometer. The sample used was composed of seventy-five tennis students enrolled in summer tennis classes at the Kenosha Towne Club, Kenosha, Wisconsin. (These students consisted of male and females ranging from eight to fifty-five years of age.) The students were divided into seven groups of different abilities. The students were divided into three children groups consisting of beginning, intermediate and advanced intermediate. The women were similarly divided into three groups. Only one grouping of men was available. The Revised Dyer Wall Test and The Broer-Miller Drive Test were found to be both valid and reliable for group classification of tennis ability. The hand dynamometer was also found to be valid and reliable as testing grip strength. The reliability Test-Retest coefficients of grip testing were significant at the .01 level. The reliability Test-Retest of The Revised Dyer Test proved valid at the .05 level, as did the Broer-Miller test. The correlation between grip strength and tennis ability proved to be of little significance.