It is hoped that the work will help both coaches and National Federations as they look to continue the development of elite teqball players.

The study assessed the probability of winning the point after a successful first serve and a successful second serve.

More than 2,000 singles rallies were observed from four competitions, including "edgeballs" which require the point to be repeated.

When looking at all data, 47.2 per cent of points were won by the server, 45 per cent were won by the receiver and 7.8 per cent of rallies were repeated. 

From the quarter-finals onward, 50.2 per cent of points were won by the serving player, whilst 42.1 per cent were won by the receiving player and 7.6 per cent were repeated. 

This demonstrates that higher level players are more likely to use their serve to their advantage.

A correlation between a successful first serve and winning the point was also found, with servers before the quarter-finals winning 56.7 per cent of the points in this instance.

This rose to 61.7 per cent following the last eight.

For successful second serves, players only went on to win 40.4 per cent of the points, rising slightly to 43.1 per cent from the quarter-finals.

"Overall, whilst this study is not exhaustive and only considers singles matches, initial trends on the influence of serving have been established," FITEQ said.

"It can be noted that higher level teqball players are able to use their service to their advantage more often than players of a lower standard. 

"It is also evident that receiving players have an advantage when the point starts with a second service, even in the later stages of a competition. 

"FITEQ will conduct further studies using data from other singles competitions, as well as data from doubles and mixed doubles matches. 

"The aim will be to add greater credibility to the findings of this study, as well as to establish any variance in the influence of serving in different competition categories, as well as on different surfaces."