Volume 2 Issue 4 | 2025 | View PDF
Paper Id:IJMSM-V2I4P125
doi: 10.71141/30485037/V2I4P125

Motor Imagery Training in Sports Psychology Improves Tennis Service Performance Among Competitive Young Tennis Athletes: A Scoping Review

Rosdara Masayuni Binti Mohd Sani, Justin Wei Yuen Fu, De Hang Ooi, Luqman Nul Hakeem Bin Abdul Rahim, Ean Hin Ooi

Citation:
Rosdara Masayuni Binti Mohd Sani, Justin Wei Yuen Fu, De Hang Ooi, Luqman Nul Hakeem Bin Abdul Rahim, Ean Hin Ooi, "Motor Imagery Training in Sports Psychology Improves Tennis Service Performance Among Competitive Young Tennis Athletes: A Scoping Review" International Journal of Multidisciplinary on Science and Management, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 233-242, 2025.

Abstract:
Tennis, a highly intricate and competitive sport, has gradually become more popular in today’s society, with a 25.6% and 13.6% increase in the number of players and coaches worldwide respectively in 2024 from 2019. One important aspect of tennis is its service, contributing 25% of tennis points in a match and is mainly influenced by accuracy and stroke velocity. In order to enhance athletic performances, many coaches adopt sports psychology in training sessions, with the most commonly applied one being motor imagery training (MIT). However, queries regarding MIT’s aftermaths on tennis service performance persist. Therefore, this scoping review aims to investigate MIT’s efficacy in improving tennis service performance among competitive young tennis athletes. Databases such as SCOPUS, Ovid MEDLINE, Google Scholar and PubMed were utilised in sourcing relevant English articles published from 1990 onwards. A total of 9 relevant articles were obtained. All the yielded studies discovered MIT may potentially be efficient in enhancing tennis service performance and able to mitigate Ramadan-induced performance decline. In conclusion, MIT is recommended to be implemented in training regimes. However, more research about this topic should be conducted as there are still limited available studies and information gaps to fill in, such as its feasibility for applying to other tennis skills, sports, efficacy in para-athletes or in the medical field for patient rehabilitation and performance optimisation.

Keywords: Tennis, Motor Imagery Training, Sport Psychology, Young Tennis Players.

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