Purpose: To quantify real-time hand-foot coupling in tennis and test whether the coupling pattern differs by playing standard. Methods: Fifteen nationally certified second-level male athletes and fifteen recreational beginners performed multi-directional swings, alternating forehand-backhand groundstrokes and serve-and-volley sequences while tri-axial ankle acceleration and racket-grip force were synchronously recorded in wearable inertial measurement units (IMUs). Grip metrics (mean force, peak force, force duration) and acceleration magnitudes were analysed with MANOVA and Hedges` g effect sizes, followed by the Benjamini-Hochberg correction (a = 0.025). Results: Across tasks, athletes showed higher mean ankle acceleration (standardised mean difference, Hedges` g) but 45% lower mean grip force (Hedges` g = -1.28; both p < 0.01). The association between acceleration and grip metrics was moderate-to-strong and negative in athletes (r = -0.62 with mean grip force; r = -0.69 with force duration), whereas beginners exhibited moderate-to-strong positive correlations (r = 0.48-0.73). Conclusion: We quantified hand-foot coordination in tennis by synchronising tri-axial ankle acceleration with calibrated racket-grip force across three match-realistic tasks. Relative to beginners, athletes demonstrated an inverse coupling between ankle acceleration and grip-force metrics, whereas beginners showed a direct coupling, consistent with our purpose of quantifying coordination via synchronised wearable sensors.
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