Virtual reality and exergaming for tennis skill development: a systematic review of human performance, engagement, transfer, and application

초록

Virtual Reality (VR) via head-mounted displays (HMDs) is increasingly adopted in sports science, yet its tennis-specific application remains poorly characterized. Prior reviews addressed VR across sports broadly or focused narrowly on perceptual skills, without integrating physical performance, rehabilitation, engagement, and real-world transfer in a tennis-specific context. This systematic review addresses that gap to guide evidence-informed implementation for coaches, clinicians, and researchers. Empirical evidence published from January 2021 to April 2026 was synthesized across four domains: physical performance, perceptual-cognitive development, learner engagement, and real-world transfer. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, seven databases were searched (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, plus IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and PsycINFO). Eleven studies met inclusion criteria, enrolling approximately 370 participants across ten conventional studies, plus one platform-derived observational study analyzing 250 users across 15,847 VR tennis sessions. One RCT provided Adapted Level 2 (moderate certainty) preliminary evidence that VR rehabilitation may be associated with faster return-to-play, reduced recurrence, and improved competitive recovery; however, replication in adequately powered multicenter trials is required before this can be considered established. Adapted Level 2 evidence from one study suggests VR gaze training may improve real-world anticipation and decision-making, pending replication. Balance interventions showed small-to-moderate improvements particularly in older adults, though on-court transfer was not assessed. Cognitive training demonstrated promising but methodologically limited gains. Evidence for technical skill development was inconsistent and lacked on-court validation. Engagement outcomes were generally positive. Critically, only 27.3% of studies evaluated real-world transfer, representing a fundamental evidentiary gap; most findings should be treated as hypothesis-generating rather than confirmatory. Limitations in sample size, intervention duration, outcome standardization, and transfer assessment constrain generalizability. Future research must prioritize adequately powered RCTs, pre-registered protocols, standardized outcome sets, and longitudinal transfer evaluations. This review makes four contributions: (1) the first tennis-specific synthesis integrating performance, cognition, rehabilitation, engagement, and transfer within a unified framework; (2) a five-dimensional VR System Classification Framework for structured cross-study comparison; (3) an Adapted Evidence Certainty Framework grading conclusions by domain; and (4) evidence-based implementation guidance differentiating robust from preliminary findings for practitioners and researchers.

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