Over the past few months, the LIFE Sport Science Institute has worked collaboratively with the department of Sport Health Science, the Office of Sponsored Research & Scholarly Activity and students in the College of Chiropractic to produce two impactful studies looking at the pathway to achieve success in Men’s and Women’s professional tennis. Dr. Mark Kovacs, the Director of the LIFE Sport Science Institute and Associate Professor in the Department of Sport Health Science, led both projects that were published recently in the Journal of Medicine and Science in Tennis. Dr. Ron Hosek in the Office of Sponsored Research & Scholarly Activity was also a major contributor to the research projects.
Both published studies research the careers of the Top 100 players in the world in both the Associated Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Rankings and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) World Rankings. The research reviewed data from every match the athletes played back to their junior career. The purpose was to highlight the pathway to achieve a top professional ranking and the timeline to achieve various age and level milestones. Advanced statistical procedures were used to evaluate various pathways to success.
The benefits of this research was to help national sports federations determine how to best allocate resources, set tournament schedules and provide invaluable information for determining the most likely pathways to achieve career progression. This research has already been adopted by top tennis federations throughout the world to help in the development of the next generation of top professional players.
“This groundbreaking research is time and labor intensive, yet is very important to determine most likely pathways to achieve career success in the sport of tennis. Our research team here at Life University has contributed to analytics research that is changing the sport,” remarked Dr. Kovacs.
About Life University
Founded in Marietta, Georgia in 1974, Life University is a health sciences institution most known for its chiropractic program, the largest in the world. Life University is regionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award baccalaureate, master’s, and Doctor of Chiropractic degrees, and also has programmatic accreditation through the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE), the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND) and the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE). The mission of Life University is to empower students with the education, skills and values necessary for career success and life fulfillment, based on a vitalistic philosophy.
