Calibration in tennis: The role of feedback and expertise

People are usually overconfident in their expectations of what they can do. The term used to describe the extent which people are accurate in these self-assessments is “calibration”. The present study focused on the effects of feedback and expertise on calibration in the physical task of serving in tennis, and three cognitive tests related to tennis. Sixty-four male and female tennis players, ranging in ability level from social to professional, took part in the study. Participants completed a tennis rules test, a tennis general knowledge test, and a tennis technique test, along with confidence ratings regarding their answers. They then completed two trials of two tennis serving tasks, which also involved estimating their expected performance on each trial. The results indicated that participants were overconfident on the general knowledge test, the rules test, and the more difficult serving task, but well calibrated on the technique test, and the easier serving task. Expertise was not strongly related to calibration and feedback was not beneficial for the more difficult serving task. The results have implications for decision making in tennis players, especially in relation to the tendency towards overconfidence on difficult tasks.