Stroke effectiveness analysis for elite male players in table tennis matches

As a highly interactive dyadic sport, the results of table tennis not only depended on the performance of own side, but also the performance by the opponent. This study introduced a novel analytical method incorporating weighted coefficients for consecutive two strokes by same side r to assess stroke effectiveness (SE) among elite shake-hand offensive players. The dataset comprised 20 matches between the top 30 male players (7 from China and 15 from other countries) were selected (based on the world rankings for 2023 to 2024) as samples, with deliberated balancing Chinese winners (n=10) and other countries winners (n=10). All match videos were sourced from broadcasts or online platforms. Then, a reliable data collection system of table tennis matches was used for the data collection, and the stroke observation indices included of strike consequence and rally results. The results showed that (1) Chinese players demonstrated significantly better performance in the first, second, after sixth stroke (P < 0.05) and after fifth stroke (P < 0.01) compared to other countries players. (2) Non-significant advantages were observed in the third and fourth stroke. (3) Notably, players from other countries only showed numerically superior outcomes in the after fifth and after sixth strokes (P >0.05). The proposed method in this study can quantify and analyze the impact of current and next strokes by own side with different coefficients α and β, enhancing players' and coaches' strategical cognition of inter-stroke dynamics.