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Provides an in-depth sports medicine profile of women college tennis players and determines the relationship among an array of performance and clinical variables. Comprehensive battery of test on 38 non-restrained women.

One purpose of the present investigation was to examine whether tennis athletes have maladaptive achievement patterns associated with learned helplessness, and whether this condition is related to gender and/or skill level. A second purpose was to determine if there is a relationship between maladaptive achievement patterns and the attributional styles used in failure performances. A sport-specific questionnaire based upon the research of Dweck and others was designed to assess the cognitive, motivational, and emotional maladaptive achievement patterns in male and female highly skilled and lesser skilled athletes enrolled in a tennis academy (N=50). Another sport-specific questionnaire based on Abramson's attributional model was used to measure each athlete's attributional style (i.e., locus of control, stability, globality, and importance). Results revealed that 11 subjects demonstrated maladaptive achievement patterns associated with learned helplessness. No gender or skill level differences were present. Subjects classified as helpless had a different attribution dimension style for explaining failure performances than did subjects classified as nonhelpless. Specifically, helpless subjects gave ratings that were internal, persistent, and recurrent. The results were discussed in terms of their practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was designed to determine if winning a specific game in a tennis match would predict success in the match and if psychological momentum was influenced by ability levels or gender of the players. Subjects were 119 male and female players competing in 163 matches in three sanctioned tennis tournaments. Game-by-game and set results were recorded. Furthermore, interviews were conducted to ascertain players' perceptions of momentum. Results revealed that winning any of the first eight games in the first and/or second set was a significant predictor of success in the tennis match. However, when only the results of more competitive matches (when sets extended to nine or more games) were examined, Games 8, 10, and 11 in the first set were significant predictors of winning the match, while only Game 4 of the second set resulted in an increased probability of match victory. No gender or ability differences were found. Based on these findings, it is suggested that investigators be cautious in inferring psychological momentum since these findings were dependent on the equity of competitors within a match, and psychological momentum seems to be a highly individual matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the development of women's tennis from 1904 to 1940. Mary Outerbridge introduced tennis in Staten Island without expecting that it would attract women from other places. The Easterners dominated tennis sports as they continue to win in the national championships. From 1904 to 1940, Californians started to dominate the tennis world. Many women adopted the game and California started to develop and produce a lot of tennis players. The domination of the Sutton sisters of tennis in Southern California is also presented.

Introduction: The aim of the study was to (i) analyze the match performance of professional female tennis players in different Grand Slams; (ii) model the relationships between match performance variables and relative quality; and (iii) build typical performance profiles for those players in Grand Slams. Method: Data of a total of 1369 matches were collected within 2014–2017 four Grand Slams (Australian Open: n = 499; Roland Garros: n = 249; Wimbledon: n = 249 and US Open, n = 372). Correlations between 37 performance variables and relative quality (difference of expected rounds between two competing players of given ranking) were determined and automatically classified into two groups of magnitudes via two-step cluster analysis. Higher-correlated variables were used to build players’ typical performance profiles via regression-based technique to give percentage evaluation scores (%ES), which means the percentage of matches where a performance variable value would be expected to be lower than the observed value considering the RQ of two competing players. Results: Players had more service winners, double faults, return winners and return unforced errors in the Australian Open and US Open, implying a “fast-fast” serve strategy, and higher dominance ratio and better serving performance in Wimbledon. While receiving players had better chances to break opponents’ service game in Roland Garros. Distance covered became similar in all Grand Slams. All studied variables showed obvious correlation with RQ expect for those of physical performance. Conclusions: The findings (i) indicate that female game in Grand Slams remained to be a contest over baseline, although players had good efficiency at net; (ii) demonstrate the influence of relative quality on serve and return, break point, net point and efficiency performance; and (iii) evidence the usefulness of applying %ES to evaluate performance of individual player. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of the study was to define a change of physical effectiveness in a one-year training course and its relation with special effectiveness. Material and methods: The research was conducted in a group of 30 female players at the age of 9 and 10 years who were training in clubs in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. The subjects were divided into two groups according to the age category. The level of motor abilities and special effectiveness was assessed twice during the one-year training course in March and November, 2013. Results: In all trials we observed a statistically significant difference of mean results between the first and the second term of research in the group of girls aged 9 and 10. The correlation analysis of the results of attempts of motor abilities and the results of special efficiency assessed on the basis of the 100 ball Test showed that the statistically significant correlations exist. Conclusions: The statistically significant correlations between results of the 20-meter run, the simple reaction test and the results of the test assessing special fitness efficiency - the 100 ball Test - suggest that speed has an important impact on special fitness in tennis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how the British Popular Press articulated notions of femininity during the 2016 Wimbledon Championships. Copies of the Daily Mail and The Sun and their sister Sunday papers were collected during the tournament and subsequently analysed using textual analysis (McKee, 2001) and drawing on Connell’s neo-Gramscian concept of gender power relations (1987, 2000, 2002, 2005) for theoretical insight. The analysis suggests that although the women’s and men’s competitions were held concurrently and female tennis players gained a greater share of the overall coverage (when compared to their male counterparts) than female athletes in other sports, long-standing gendered discursive strategies were still evidenced within the reportage of the tournament. In particular, the media image of white female players, and the white partners of male players, was constructed in accordance with traditional subordinate, passive and sexualised roles. At the same time, black female tennis players were cast in the role of ‘other’ through their representation as extra-ordinary ‘superwomen’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discussions about the impact of physical attractiveness on the popularity of competitive athletes have received much attention from scholars and the worldwide media. We provide new insights into this debate, and draw managerial implications by estimating OLS and Tobit regressions to test whether and to what extent the physical attractiveness of professional female tennis players affects (changes in) their popularity in online media. Based on a sample of the top 100 Women's Tennis Association (WTA) single ranking of one selected calendar week in 2011 and 2012, we find that physical attractiveness significantly increases the popularity on Facebook, SI.com, and Google, as well as the change in online popularity for Facebook and WTA news. Nevertheless, a tennis players's performance has a larger effect on online popularity than physical attractiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high degree of physical and mental stress is inherent to competitive training, which have been associated with an elevation of cortisol hormone, classifying it as a psychophysiologic stress indicator. To analyze psychophysiologic stress by saliva cortisol in female tennis athletes, 16 and 18 years-old, during a circuit of an international tournament. Participated forty-eight female tennis players, enrolled in the Copa Guga-Kuerten. Cortisol samples were collected by saliva, using a Salivette® tube, and analyzed by ELISA method. Samples were collected during the meeting (C pre) and immediately post-game (C-post). Data are described by mean and standard deviation, and analyze by an ANCOVA (2x2: categories: 16 and 18 years; and, winners and losers), using C pre measures as covariant (< 0. 05). C-pre (8. 0±3. 6 nmol/L) differed from C-post (13. 0±6. 2 nmol/L) when the two categories were analyzed simultaneously (t = -7. 526; p < 0. 000), indicating an elevation of cortisol during the sportive event. There were not differences of cortisol concentrations between winners and losers had a higher cortisol concentration after the game. However, only a few studies evaluated the (F1,98 = 2. 686; p = 0. 104). There were not significant associations between athletes' ranking with C-pre (0. 083; p = 0. 602) and C-post (-0. 037; p = 0. 818), which may indicates that athletes' rank position do not influence on cortisol concentration. This study showed that female tennis athletes influences of sportive competition on cortisol reporting controversial results. Therefore, it is suggested that further studies quantifying other factors related to stress, purposing a better understanding of its influences on athletes' performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to describe the physical demands in match of female young tennis players, focusing on velocity and acceleration using microtechnology. Twenty-six female high-level young tennis players participated in the current study. Match-play played in official Tournament was codified using a global positioning system (10 Hz) that includes accelerometry (100 Hz). The results showed that: (1) the Estimation Distance (59.1 ± 24.8 m min−1) was overcome in 33% to the Real Distance (44.4 ± 7.7 m min−1); (2) the Acceleration Distance was around 89% of the Real Distance; (3) the 97.0 ± 6.1% of time and 90.9 ± 8.2% of distance covered by players were obtained in low speed zones (Positioning: 0–0.5 m s−1and Jogging: 0.6–1.9 m s−1, respectively). The main conclusion of this study was that the two dimensions, velocity and acceleration, allowed to obtain complementary values of physical demands of tennis players. Nevertheless, acceleration dimension could give us more information about the intermittent profile of tennis players who are not able to reach high speeds. Therefore, tennis coaches should take into account the demands in both dimensions, specifically in acceleration/deceleration variables to design specific training tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores whether the 18th century can be considered a golden age for women athletes, as reflected on the success of tennis player Mme Bunel and horse rider Alicia Thornton. Topics discussed include the belief that Bunel was Louise-Bonne Bunel who was a member of a French tennis-playing family, her matches in 1768 with Mr. Tomkins who was considered to be England's greatest tennis player, the victory of Thornton against professional jockey Francis Buckle during their race in 1805.