PROFILE COMPARISON BETWEEN U.S. COLLEGE TENNIS ATHLETES VERSUS AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL TENNIS SCHOLARSHIP ATHLETES

Abstract

Bioenergetic tables usually list tennis as primarily an anaerobic sport coupled with an intermittent aerobic component, hence both parameters need to be trained for optimal tennis performance However, there is limited data published on U.S. college tennis players. PURPOSE: To compare tennis-specific skills and aerobic fitness for players of similar age from the Australian International Scholarship (AIS) Tennis Program (7 M, 12 F, 16–19 yrs old). METHODS: 17 U.S. college tennis players (10 M, 7 F; 18–23 yrs old) volunteered to participate in the following battery of tests as listed below. Using the AIS scores as the comparison group, two-tailed one-sample T tests were used to determine significant differences (*p < 0.05) for performance on each variable per gender. RESULTS: Vertical Jump (cm) US: 53.0(M); 41.8 (F) AIS: 66.4(M)*; 50.1 (F)* 5 Meter Sprint US: 1.31(M); 1.34 (F) AIS: 1.08(M)*; 1.20 (F) 10 Meter Spring 1.89(M); 2.14 (F) AIS: 1.83(M); 2.02 (F) Repeated Spider(s) US: 17.1(M); 19.5 (F) AIS: 16.8(M); 17.4 (F)* Left Sidethrow(m) US: 13.2(M); 8.0 (F) AIS: 16.3(M)*; 12.1 (F)* Right Sidethrow(m) US: 14.7(M); 8.6 (F) AIS: 16.7(M)*; 12.3 (F)* Flat Serve (kph) US: 172.3(M);147.5(F) AIS: 155.6(M)*;137.9(F)* VO2max (ml/kg/min) US: 61.0 (M); n/a (F) AIS: 56.9 (M)*; 55.8(F) CONCLUSIONS: Even though these US college tennis athletes were ranked among the top 30 NCAA Division I Tennis Teams, with the exception of the flat serve, the data suggests that these US college tennis players exhibited lesser developed tennis-specific anaerobic skills when compared to their Australian peers. Conversely, the US males were more aerobically trained. A larger more diverse collegiate sample is needed to determine if these results are reflective of top US college tennis players.