introduces the edited papers and keynote addresses presented at the combined Third World Congress of Science and Racket Sports and Eighth International Table Tennis Federation Sports Science Congress, in February 2003. The papers are brought together by world-class experts: Lees is Chair of the World Congress for Sports Science Rackets Division, Kahn is Technical Director of the International Table Tennis federation, and Maynard is Secretary of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Scientists. The papers detail cutting edge research in racket sports science in five key areas: * notational match analysis * sports medicine * biomechanics * sports psychology * sports physiology. This valuable collection embraces a broad spectrum of the issues being examined by contemporary sports scientists, and will be of interest to researchers in sports biomechanics and ergonomics, sports engineering and elite racket sports professionals.