A Physiological Profile Of Male And Female Division I Collegiate Tennis Players

Abstract

Tennis requires high levels of reaction time, muscular power, and aerobic capacity. Assessments of these physiological parameters can aid in making decisions on training priorities, adaptations, and overall readiness. PURPOSE: The purpose of this analysis was to evaluate physiological and performance characteristics of male and female tennis players and identify relationships between metrics. METHODS: Collegiate tennis players (male [M]: n = 7, age = 20.7 ± 1.3 y, height = 186 ± 4 cm, body mass = 82.2 ± 4.5 kg; female [F]: n = 10, age = 19.6 ± 1.3 y, height = 166 ± 5 cm, mass = 65.3 ± 9.2 kg) participated in preseason testing to assess body composition, reaction time, muscular power, and aerobic capacity. First, body composition (body fat percentage [%BF], fat-free mass [FFM]) was measured by air-displacement plethysmography (BODPOD), followed by simple (Dynavision D2) and whole-body dynamic (Trazer) reaction time (RT), muscular power via maximal countermovement vertical jump with hands on hips (CMJ), and aerobic capacity (VO2max) via maximal graded exercise testing. Descriptive statistics are presented as mean ± standard deviation, and relationships between metrics were assessed using Pearson’s correlations (r) with an alpha-level of 0.05. RESULTS: Average %BF and FFM were 10.8 ± 4.0% and 73.3 ± 3.6 kg for M and 21.6 ± 6.2% and 51.7 ± 6.7 kg for F. Simple RT was 0.7 ± 0.1 s for both M and F, and dynamic RT was 0.5 ± 0.0 s for M and F. CMJ height was 56.4 ± 6.2 cm for M and 41.9 ± 4.4 cm for F. VO2max was 57.1 ± 5.1 mL/kg/min for M and 47.3 ± 5.8 mL/kg/min for F. %BF was inversely related to both CMJ (r = -0.72; P < 0.01) and VO2max (r = -0.77; P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this sample was relatively lean, though M met the “Good-Excellent” category while F met the “Fair” category according to ACSM standards. Both measures of RT were consistent across M and F, though M had higher CMJ. VO2max was also higher in M, but both teams were considered “Excellent.” Correlational findings suggest increased BF% may negatively impact both anaerobic and aerobic performance, as athletes with higher BF% had lower CMJ heights and cardiovascular fitness. Future research should assess how these measures, particularly reaction time metrics, relate to on-court tennis performance.