Abstract
Background: Tennis is an intermittent sport, characterized by hundreds of repetitive explosive efforts, including accelerations, and jumps. A single match can last up to 5 hours and players are called to play several matches often separated by less than 48h of recovery. Objective: The study aimed to investigate the effects of a standardized tennis match on perceived fatigue and jump and sprint performances on a group of recreational tennis players and to observe if such variables were affected by residual effects of fatigue 24 hours after the match. Methods: Twelve recreational tennis players performed a 120 min match. Before, immediately after and 24h after the match, players completed a set of three countermovement jumps, three 10m sprints, and reported their perception of general fatigue. Results: Significant differences between the three conditions have been found for the perceived fatigue: indeed fatigue was higher both in the immediate post (F(1,10)= 54.422, η2 = 0.845, p<0.001) and 24h post-match (F(1,10)= 10.947, η2 = 0.523, p=0.08), with respect to the pre-match condition. No significant differences were detected in the other variables. Conclusion: During a tournament, the performance of tennis players may be weakened and the recovery prejudiced. To identify fluctuations of and factors linked to fatigue may help tennis practitioners to apply adequate recovery strategies with athletes, limiting performance decrements within a tournament, and indirectly preventing injuries.
Highlights
Tennis can be defined as an intermittent sport, with repetitive anaerobic efforts interspersed by aerobic pauses between the rallies
To identify fluctuations of and factors linked to fatigue may help tennis practitioners to apply adequate recovery strategies with athletes, limiting performance decrements within a tournament, and indirectly preventing injuries
To understand if the fatigue developed during a match may last even in the day after could help athletes to adapt recovery strategies in order to be better prepared for the subsequent matches within the tournament. The aim of this preliminary study was to investigate the effects of a standardized tennis match on perceived fatigue and jump and sprint performances on a group of recreational tennis players and to observe if such variables were affected by residual effects of fatigue 24 hours after the match
Summary
Tennis can be defined as an intermittent sport, with repetitive anaerobic efforts interspersed by aerobic pauses between the rallies. Most of the studies focused the attention only on motorskills proficiency as performance measures; since the tennis performance is multifaceted, other performance variables should be included in research studies [4]. It is still unclear whether fatigue in tennis manifested in changes of locomotion, reduced cognitive performance or technical proficiency. The fatigue effects produced by a tennis match may differ between court surfaces and game styles [3]. Tennis is an intermittent sport, characterized by hundreds of repetitive explosive efforts, including accelerations, and jumps. A single match can last up to 5 hours and players are called to play several matches often separated by less than 48h of recovery
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