The development of talent may take different forms for youth athletes, but there are only few longitudinal studies tracking this process. This study prospectively examines: 1) the development of talented Dutch tennis players aged 11.5 to 16 and 2) the predictability of performance at age 16, based on players' performance in preceding years. Biannually, we collected performance rating data of 1010 players (645 males, 365 females) who were ranked top 300 in the national youth ranking at least once. Applying Growth Mixture Modelling, we found that a 4-class model best fits the male sample, while a 5-class model fits the female sample most optimally. The best male class displayed non-linear development, improving slowly until age 13.5, after which development accelerated. The best female class showed consistent linear improvement. The correlation between performance at age 16 and preceding ages increased during adolescence. The correlation starts off moderate at slightly above 0.6 at age 11.5 and increases steadily to almost 1.0 at age 15.5. The correlation was consistently higher for the female sample. Our findings shed new light on male-female differences in talent development trajectories, and suggest that early talent identification could be more feasible for female players compared to male players.
Tennis is a multidirectional high-intensity intermittent sport for male and female individuals played across multiple surfaces. Although several studies have attempted to characterise the physical demands of tennis, a meta-analysis is still lacking. We aimed to describe and synthesise the physical demands of tennis across the different court surfaces, performance levels and sexes. PubMed, Embase, CINAHL and SPORTDiscus were searched from inception to 19 April, 2022. A backward citation search was conducted for included articles using Scopus. The PECOS framework was used to formulate eligibility criteria. Population: tennis players of regional, national or international playing levels (juniors and adults). Exposure: singles match play. Comparison: sex (male/female), court surface (hard, clay, grass). Outcome: duration of play, on-court movement and stroke performance. Study design: cross-sectional, longitudinal. Pooled means or mean differences with 95 https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/MDWFY ).
The objective was to systematically review the literature on risk factors and prevention programs for musculoskeletal injuries among tennis players. PubmedMedline, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane, SportDiscus were searched up to February 2017. Experts in clinical and epidemiological medicine were contacted to obtain additional studies.For risk factors, prospective cohort studies (n > 20) with a statistical analysis for injured and non-injured players were included and studies with a RCT design for prevention programs. Downs&Black checklist was assessed for risk of bias for risk factors. From a total of 4067 articles, five articles met our inclusion criteria for risk factors. No studies on effectiveness of prevention programs were identified. Quality of studies included varied from fair to excellent.Best evidence synthesis revealed moderate evidence for previous injury regardless of body location in general and fewer years of tennis experience for the occurrence of upper extremity injuries. Moderate evidence was found for lower back injuries, a previous back injury, playing >6hours/week and low lateral flexion of the neck for risk factors. Limited evidence was found for male gender as a risk factor.The risk factors identified can assist clinicians in developing prevention-strategies. Further studies should focus on risk factor evaluation in recreational adult tennis players.
Objective: For elite athletes to train and compete at peak performance levels, it is necessary to manage their pain efficiently and effectively. A recent consensus meeting on the management of pain in elite athletes concluded that there are many gaps in the current knowledge and that further information and research is required. This article presents the crystallization of these acknowledged gaps in knowledge. Data sources: Information was gathered from a wide variety of published scientific sources that were reviewed at the consensus meeting and the gaps in knowledge identified. Main Results: Gaps have been identified in the epidemiology of analgesic use, the management of pain associated with minor injuries, and the field of play management of pain for athletes with major injuries. From a pharmacological perspective, there is a lack of information on the prescribing of opioid medications in elite athletes and more data are required on the use of local anesthetics injections, corticosteroids, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs during training and in competition. Pain management strategies for the general population are widely available, but there are few for the elite sporting population and virtually none for elite athletes with a disability. More research is also needed in assessing cognitive-behavior therapies in improving specific outcomes and also into the new process of psychologically informed physiotherapy. A key issue is the paucity of data relating to incidence or prevalence of persistent pain and how this relates to persistent dysfunction, exercise performance, and physiological function in later life. Conclusions: The identification of the gaps in knowledge in the management of pain in elite athletes will provide a unified direction for the retrieval of information and further research that will provide reassurance, speed return to active sport, and benefit performance.
Objectives: We compared the utility of four cooling interventions for reducing heat strain during simulated tennis match-play in an environment representative of the peak conditions possible at the Australian Open (45 C. <10% RH, 475 W/m(2) solar radiation). Design: Nine trained males undertook four trials in a climate chamber, each time completing 4 sets of simulated match-play. Methods: During ITF-mandated breaks (90-s between odd-numbered games; 120-s between sets), either iced towels (ICE), an electric fan (FAN(dry)), a fan with moisture applied to the skin (FAN(wet)). or ad libitum 10 C water ingestion only (CON) was administered. Rectal temperature (T-re), mean skin temperature (T-sk), heart rate (HR), thermal sensation (TS), perceived exertion (RPE) and whole body sweating (WBSR) were measured. Results: After set 3.T-re was lower in ICE(38.2 +/- 0.3 C) compared to FAN(dry) (38.7 +/- 0.5 C; p = 0.02) and CON (38.5 +/- 0.5 C; p =0.05), while T-re in FAN(wet) (38.2 +/- 0.3 C) was lower than FAN(dry) (p = 0.05). End-exercise T-re was lower in ICE (38.1 +/- 0.3 C) and FAN(wet) (38.2 +/- 0.4 C) than FAN(dry) (38.9 +/- 0.7 C; p <0.04) and CON (38.8 +/- 0.5 C; p < 0.04). T-sk for ICE (35.3 +/- 0.8 C) was lower than all conditions, and T-sk for FAN(wet) (36.6 +/- 1.1 C) was lower than FAN(dry) (38.1 +/- 1.3 C; p <0.05). TS for ICE and FAN(wet) were lower than CON and FAN(dry) (p <0.05). HR was suppressed in ICE and FAN, relative to CON and FANdry (p <0.05). WBSR was greater in FAN(dry) compared to FAN(wet) (139 +/- 0.01) and ICE (p <0.001). Conclusions: Fan use must be used with skin wetting to be effective in hot/dry conditions. This strategy and the currently recommended ICE intervention both reduced T-re by similar to 0.5-0.6 C and T-sk by similar to 1.0-1.5 C while mitigating rises in HR and TS. (C) 2017 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
