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The relationship between domestic professional tournament structure in women's tennis and the subsequent professional ranking success of a nation's female players is examined. The 2003 women's professional tennis tournament calendar provided the distribution of events in 33 countries. Criteria used to classify nations' success in women's professional tennis were as follows: number of players with Women's Tennis Association (WTA) points, number of players with Top 200 rankings, and the combined WTA ranking of a nation's Top 5 female players. Pearson product - moment correlations were performed between the number of tournaments and the three criteria. Considerable variation was observed in the number of events organized between nations (USA, n = 56; Thailand, n = 3). All countries had internationally ranked female players, and 24 nations had players ranked in the Top 200. Results revealed relationships between a nation's number of women's professional events and both that nation's number of professionally ranked players (r = 0.60; P < 0.01) and Top 200 players (r = 0.60; P < 0.01), as well as the combined ranking of their Top 5 players (r = -0.52; P < 0.01). While a similar association was found between the number of professional events and players ranked in the men's game, there was no significant correlation between events held and the combined standing of nations' best five ranked players. Governing bodies and national associations in tennis should consider the provision of professional, domestic competition as key to the development of female tennis players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between goal orientations, implicit theories of ability, and the type of augmented feedback individuals prefer when trying to learn a skill, with the goal of learning more about how teachers can use feedback to create a task-involved climate. The participants were 115 undergraduate students. They completed three instruments in their normal tennis classes. Feedback about the qualitative aspects of the skill, rather than feedback that focuses only on the outcome, were positively associated with a task orientation, while outcome-based feedback was positively related to an ego orientation. An entity theory of ability was negatively associated with feedback about the qualitative aspects of the skill. The findings suggest that the nature of feedback provided to students could be an important variable in the creation of a task-involved climate. To more clearly understand the impact that feedback can have, further study is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The game of tennis has evolved from the wooden-racket era of long, crafty points based on style and finesse, to the current fast paced, explosive sport based on power, strength and speed, where 210 km/h serves are common. This evolution over the last 20 years has led to an increased interest in tennis research. Competitive tennis athletes need a mixture of anaerobic skills, such as speed, agility and power, combined with high aerobic capabilities. The work-to-rest ratios of competitive tennis athletes range between 1 : 3 and 1 : 5, and fatigue has been shown to greatly reduce the hitting accuracy. Competitive male tennis athletes maintain body fat <12% and have maximal oxygen uptake values >50 mL/kg/min, and as high as 70 mL/kg/min. Results from lactate testing in tennis players are inconclusive as some studies have shown increased levels, whilst other studies have shown little or no change. Further investigation is required to determine the production and utilisation effects of lactate from playing tennis. The average length of time to play a point in tennis is <10 seconds and this has declined substantially in the last 20 years. Further research is needed to investigate tournament performance and its effect on fatigue, recovery, hormonal and injury levels. As the game of tennis continues to change, the physiological parameters must be continually investigated to help provide athletes, coaches and trainers with information that will aid in the development of efficient and productive tennis performance and injury prevention programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to determine the match activity and physiological demands of women's tennis during a 3-day clay-court tennis tournament. The activity profile of eight players was determined by filming each competitive match with video cameras. Metabolic-perceptual measurements-blood samples and individual ratings of perceived exertion (RPE)-were taken while the players were sitting during permitted changeover breaks in play. The activity profile of the players was as follows: strokes per rally, 2.5 ± 1.6; rally duration, 7.2 ± 5.2 s; rest time between rallies, 15.5 ± 7.3 s; effective playing time, 21.6 ± 6.1%; work-to-rest ratio, 1:2.1. Blood lactate concentration [2.2 ± 0.9 mmol · l-1 (n = 50) vs. 2.2 ± 0.7 mmol · l-1 (n = 48)] and RPE values [12.2 ± 2.4 (n = 57) vs. 12 ± 2.3 (n = 57)] were not significantly different (P = 0.65-0.78) between service and return games. The results highlight the importance of taking these factors (i.e. activity patterns and physiological profile) into account when planning training strategies for competitive females players. As such, tennis training regimes should be adapted to the specific demands imposed by match-play in female players on a clay-court surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review focuses on the characteristics of tennis players during match play and provides a greater insight into the energy demands of tennis. A tennis match often lasts longer than an hour and in some cases more than five hours. During a match there is a combination of periods of maximal or near maximal work and longer periods of moderate and low intensity activity. Match intensity varies considerably depending on the players' level, style, and sex. It is also influenced by factors such as court surface and ball type. This has important implications for the training of tennis players, which should resemble match intensity and include interval training with appropriate work to rest ratios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competitive tennis play requires a combination of the major physiological variables; however, the specifics of these variables have yet to be determined appropriately. General strength and flexibility training have been suggested as being beneficial for performance and injury prevention, yet specific guidelines are lacking. This paper provides a review of specific studies that relate to competitive tennis, and highlights the need for tennis-specific training as opposed to generalised physical training. It identifies specific studies that support the premise that tennis has physiological requirements which need to be understood when designing training and research programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on how physical educators can simplify tennis instruction to their students. Impact of the changes in racquets on the tennis teaching methods; Techniques needed by a student to become a proficient player; Advice for physical educators who want to promote tennis as a lifetime activity.

Presents information on a study which analyzed the development of perceptumotor processes in coincidence timing tasks inlight of age and experience in tennis. Investigation of the effects of three different motions; Information on the names of the tennis players who were studies; Information on the theoretical implications for the development of perceptuomotor processes associated with coincidence timing tasks; Details on the methods employed in the study.

Highlights a study by F. Farrow et al in volume 29 of the `International Journal of Sport Psychology,' which assessed the effectivity of an interactive video simulation in teaching novice tennis players on the appropriate responses to a tennis serve. Responses of group that participated in video simulation training; Difference in accuracy.

Discusses a study examining the trainability of anticipatory skills for tennis. Random assignment of beginning/intermediate tennis players to mental quickness or physical quickness training groups; Activities performed by training groups; On-court activities; Faster decision-making in mental quickness group.

The article presents a summary of the article "Anger: Use it, don't lose it," by C. Hahn, published in the journal "Tennis." The article looks at the regulation of anger to improve athletic performance during tennis competition, including negative and positive influences of anger on cognitive and physical skills.

The article reviews the videotape "Mental Toughness Training for Tennis: 'The 16 Second Cure,'" directed by Jim Loehr.

Exercises are essentially a practical tool for technical training and are divided into two groups - basic and additional. In the initial basic training of each stroke is used mainly frontal workout, all players perform special exercises and preparatory time. This allows efficient solving tasks in the preparatory and final part of the session. Find direct application methods such as verbal and nonverbal, talk, explain, lecture, guidelines, and other shades; methods to visualize, display, demonstration, kinogrami, video, training films and other media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article discusses the Physical Activity/Tennis and Character Education (PACE) project designed to teach children play tennis while integrating character education and healthy lifestyle decision-making. It mentions that the program focuses on the promotion of education of disadvantaged youth from low-income backgrounds. It states that the objective of PACE is to change the children's awareness, knowledge attitudes and lifestyle and emphasizes the aspect of good health behaviors.

The article focuses on teaching tennis skills in elementary physical education by using floor tennis. It discusses the floor tennis game which is a modified net game that combines components of table tennis and tennis. It also provides a detailed description on how the courts are created and how the game is coordinated and played. It says that floor tennis offers a convenient and constructive channel for teachers who desire to teach basic tennis skills despite facility and equipment limitations.

An experiment assessed whether novice table-tennis players' ball-balancing and bouncing skills could predict their performances after a semester of being coached. A pretest-posttest design was used to test this hypothesis with 82 male and 77 female physical education students who initially performed the skills and subsequently participated in a round-robin tournament. Moderate negative but significant (p <.01) Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients were obtained between some of the ball control skills scores and overall ranking in the table-tennis tournament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]