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The basic forehand and backhand volley techniques are as important as the basic serve, forehand and backhand groundstroke techniques in tennis, as a weapon to score points in singles and doubles games. However, teachers/coaches often find it difficult to teach an easy method in basic forehand and backhand volley techniques for children. This study aims to develop a learning model for basic forehand and backhand volley techniques based on an integrated training of Cognitive, Psychology, and Skill (CPS) to provide a better learning for junior tennis players aged 8-12 years. The research design used research and development method of 4D models, Define, Design, Development, and Disseminate using a quantitative and qualitative approach (mixed method). Quantitative data collection instruments were obtained from the results of pretest and posttest scores, while qualitative data were taken from questionnaires and interviews. The instruments was developed and validated using Content Validity Ratio analysis, Consistency Alpha Cronbach, and Anova-General Multifacet Model. The results shows that the provision of pretest and posttest multiple choice questions, observation sheets on a psychological approach, stages of training models based on skills approach, and model basic training exercises based on an integrated training approach are very helpful in the process of setting the knowledge and understanding of the mastery of basic techniques forehand and backhand volley for junior players ages 8-12. The instruments validation resulted in an excellent content validity/CVR and high reliability coefficient/ICC. Thus, the integrated training of CPS can be applied to optimize the learning of basic forehand and backhand volley for junior tennis players aged 8-12 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Situational awareness and cognitive function are often discounted in sports training programs, potentially limiting their effectiveness., Objective: This research aimed to examine the effect of a six-week neuromuscular-cognitive training program on postural stability, hop performance, and agility with and without perceptual-cognitive challenge in a tennis team., Design: Double baseline, quasi-experimental pretest-posttest., Methods: Ten collegiate female tennis athletes volunteered to participate in this study. Participants completed two baseline testing sessions, a six-week training program, and a post-test session one week after the training program. Participants completed the neuromuscular-cognitive training twice a week for six weeks. The training integrated cognitive load (e.g., working memory and inhibitory control) during exercise (e.g., balance and shuffling). At each data collection session, subjects completed a single-limb stance on a force plate with and without an upper extremity reaction test, single-leg hop, single-leg memory hop, reactive agility, and a lower extremity reaction task. Pre-to post-intervention changes were analyzed using t-tests with corresponding Hedge's g effect sizes. Results were considered significant when p ≤ 0.05 and Hedge's g effect sizes were moderate to strong., Results: Statistically significant improvements were identified for single and dual-task anteroposterior mean center of pressure velocity (g = -0.684-0.803), single-task time-to-boundary mediolateral mean minima (g = 0.921), and single and dual-task time-to-boundary anteroposterior mean minima (0.708-0.830). Additionally, significant improvements were identified in the upper extremity reaction task during the dual-task static balance (g = -0.795)., Conclusion: Neuromuscular-cognitive training may be beneficial in improving postural stability outcomes; however, more research is needed to develop this type of training further., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interests The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The dichotomous classification of self-talk statements into goal-directed as a more controlled type of self-talk and spontaneous as a more uncontrolled type of self-talk might be an oversimplification. To address this issue, two studies were conducted aiming to explore the idea that the distinction between the two self-talk types should rather be proportional and not mutually exclusive. In Study 1, football players took part in a penalty competition and were subsequently asked to state the self-talk they had before and after the penalty. In Study 2, table tennis players took part in two activities (i.e., a precision task and a competitive set) and were subsequently asked to state the self-talk they had before the individual rounds in each activity. In both studies, the players subsequently rated for each self-talk statement the extent to which it was spontaneous and the extent to which it was goal-directed. The majority of self-talk statements were rated to some extent as both spontaneous and goal-directed. For Study 1, paired-sample t-tests showed that before a penalty kick self-talk was more goal-directed than spontaneous and after the penalty kick it was more spontaneous than goal-directed. In the more exploratory Study 2, multilevel regression analyses showed that the two types of self-talk could not predict sports performance. While the results support the usefulness of the distinction between spontaneous and goal-directed self-talk, treating the two types of self-talk as proportional rather than dichotomous might reflect more accurately the mental activity. Key words: dual-process, organic self-talk, self-regulation, System 1, System 2., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that there is no competing financial interest or personal relationships that influenced the work reported in the paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Our aim in this study was to test the effect of 10 sessions of biofeedback (BFB) on physiological, psychological, and cognitive functioning of international tennis players. In this randomized controlled trial, we recruited 16 international tennis players (11 male, 5 female; M age = 17.31, SD = 0.87 years), who were randomly assigned to either an intervention group (IG; n = 8) or a control group (CG; n = 8). Those in the IG received 10 multimodal BFB sessions over four weeks, while those in the CG received no intervention. We assessed physiological, psychological, and cognitive parameters before and after the intervention and found a positive effect for skin temperature, state anxiety, and cognitive performance in the IG versus the CG. We provide preliminary data that 10 sessions of multimodal BFB improved cognitive functions and reduced anxiety symptoms in international tennis players. Future investigators should consider increasing sample size, incorporating an active CG, and studying these effects across diverse athletic disciplines., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

It is known that different types of music used during sports performance has different psycho-physiological effects. In this context, this study aimed to reveal the effect of different types of music on ITN test performance in tennis players. A total of 35 recreational tennis players voluntarily participated in the study. In the research, the ITN test performance of tennis players was measured in three different conditions with 48-hour intervals, these being without music, with motivational music, and with sedative music. The Freidman test was used in the analysis of the data that did not show a normal distribution, and the Repeated Measures ANOVA test was used in the analysis of the data that showed a normal distribution. According to the main findings of the study, it was determined that motivational music increased the ITN test performance of tennis players, while sedative music decreased their ITN test performance (p< .05). Additionally, it was determined that motivational music increased the groundstroke depth scores of tennis players, while sedative music decreased groundstroke depth scores (p< .05). In addition to this, it was determined that volley depth, groundstroke accuracy, and serve scores increased through motivational music (p< .05), whereas sedative music had no effect (p> .05). As a result, it was determined that the ITN test performances of tennis players can be increased through the psycho-physiological effect of motivational music. It can therefore be concluded that the use of motivational music during training and matches (between sets and/or time breaks) of tennis players can increase their shooting performance., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Cengiz et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

This study aimed to examine the influence of sport skill levels on behavioural and neuroelectric performance in visuospatial attention and memory visuospatial tasks were administered to 54 participants, including 18 elite and 18 amateur table tennis players and 18 nonathletes, while event-related potentials were recorded. In all the visuospatial attention and memory conditions, table tennis players displayed faster reaction times than nonathletes, regardless of skill level, although there was no difference in accuracy between groups. In addition, regardless of task conditions, both player groups had a greater P3 amplitude than nonathletes, and elite players exhibited a greater P3 amplitude than amateurs players. The results of this study indicate that table tennis players, irrespective of their skill level, exhibit enhanced visuospatial capabilities. Notably, athletes at the elite level appear to benefit from an augmented allocation of attentional resources when engaging in visuospatial tasks., Competing Interests: Tsung-Min Hung is an Academic Editor for PeerJ., (© 2024 Chen et al.)

The conflicting predictions of ironic process theory and the implicit overcompensation hypothesis have been presented as a framework to explain the characteristics of errors that occur when a certain behavior is prohibited. The former predicts that instructions prohibiting a particular behavior will increase the likelihood of an outcome that should be avoided (ironic error), whereas the latter predicts that the likelihood of an outcome opposite of that to be avoided (overcompensation error) will increase. We examined how these errors, which negatively affect performance, are influenced by pressure and perceived weakness. Participants performed a tennis-stroke task, aiming to hit a ball toward a target zone while avoiding a discouraged zone. The results indicate that pressure decreases the ironic errors but increases the overcompensation errors that occur when a particular behavior is discouraged, while an increase in perceived weakness induces random errors.

Prior studies have shown that experts possess an excellent ability for action anticipation. However, it is not clear how experts process the discrepancies between predicted outcomes and actual outcomes. Based on Bayesian theory, Experiment 1 in the current study explored this question by categorizing unexpected outcomes into gradually increasing discrepancies and comparing the performance of experts and novices on a congruence discrimination task. Our behavioral analysis revealed that experts outperformed novices significantly in detecting these discrepancies. The following electroencephalogram study in Experiment 2 was conducted focused exclusively on experts to examine the role of theta wave oscillations within the mid-frontal cortex in processing varying levels of discrepancy. The results showed that reaction time and theta oscillations gradually increased as the magnitude of discrepancy increased. These findings indicate that compared to the novices, experts have a better ability to perceptual the discrepancy. Also, the magnitude of discrepancies induced an increase in mid-frontal theta in experts, providing greater flexibility in their response strategies.

The purpose of the present study was to assess whether the recognition of tennis players' affective state associated with their nonverbal behavior would be influenced by (a) the importance of the situation, (b) the point outcome, and (c) the tennis expertise of the observer. Two hundred sixty-nine participants (Mage = 30.51 years; 116 female; 79 tennis club members) watched video excerpts showing the nonverbal behavior of amateur tennis players during competitive matches immediately after the end of a rally and were asked to estimate whether the player had just won or lost the point. Results indicate that the recognition rates were higher for situations closer to the end of a game, closer to the end of a set, and with a tighter score during a game. Moreover, recognition rates were higher for lost than for won points, while the tennis expertise of participants had no influence on the recognition rates.

Stimulus identification and action outcome understanding for a rapid and accurate response selection, play a fundamental role in racquet sports. Here, we investigated the neurodynamics of visual anticipation in tennis manipulating the postural and kinematic information associated with the body of opponents by means of a spatial occlusion protocol. Event Related Potentials (ERPs) were evaluated in two groups of professional tennis players (N = 37) with different levels of expertise, while they observed pictures of opponents and predicted the landing position as fast and accurately as possible. The observed action was manipulated by deleting different body districts of the opponent (legs, ball, racket and arm, trunk). Full body image (no occlusion) was used as control condition. The worst accuracy and the slowest response time were observed in the occlusion of trunk and ball. The former was associated with a reduced amplitude of the ERP components likely linked to body processing (the N1 in the right hemisphere) and visual-motor integration awareness (the pP1), as well as with an increase of the late frontal negativity (the pN2), possibly reflecting an effort by the insula to recover and/or complete the most correct sensory-motor representation. In both occlusions, a decrease in the pP2 may reflect an impairment of decisional processes upon action execution following sensory evidence accumulation. Enhanced amplitude of the P3 and the pN2 components were found in more experienced players, suggesting a greater allocation of resources in the process connecting sensory encoding and response execution, and sensory-motor representation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We (authors) disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) our work. We do not have any potential competing interests including employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. More specifically Maurizio Bertollo, given his role as an Editorial Board Member, had no involvement in the peer-review of this article and had no access to information regarding its peer-review., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The purpose of the current study was to utilize the RE-AIM (i.e., reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance) framework to evaluate the national-level scale-out of the Lawn Tennis Association's "Optimal Competition Parenting Workshop" (OCPW) across a 4-year period. During 2018, 65 workshops were run across the United Kingdom, 1,043 parents registered, and 933 parents attended. Adopting a quasi-experimental design, multilevel analyses revealed significant increases in parents' (n = 130) task goal orientation and competition tennis parenting efficacy, as well as significant decreases in ego goal orientation and unpleasant emotions. Children's perceptions of both mother- and father-initiated ego-involving motivational climate and their own ego goal orientation significantly decreased across time. From 2019 to 2021, a further 64 workshops were delivered to 1,110 parents with no significant differences in parents' satisfaction, enjoyment, instructor evaluation, or transfer intention over time when compared against workshop evaluations in 2018. Overall, the OCPW represents a well-received, practical, and effective brief intervention for enhancing parental involvement in junior tennis.

Researchers have shown that the emotions that athletes experience during sporting competition can be transferred between team members to create collective team emotional states. Nevertheless, collective emotions have not yet been investigated for sporting dyads. In this study, the emotional experiences of 68 doubles table tennis players (34 dyads) were examined at three time points: precompetition, in-competition, and postcompetition. It was found that the intensity of each emotional state differed as a function of match situation (positive/negative). Moreover, in-competition anxiety, dejection, and anger were shown to predict poorer subjective performance, and anxiety was shown to negatively impact future objective athlete performance. Most pertinently, within-dyad emotional aggregation was identified for athlete in-competition happiness and dejection and for postcompetition happiness, dejection, and anger. These findings represent the first quantitative evidence of emotional convergence in sport dyads and provide support for the social functional theory of emotion in sport.

The aim of this study was to monitor the activation during a neutral situation imagery (NSI) and a pressure situation imagery (PSI), based on the analysis of heart rate, brain waves and subjective ratings in athletes. The sample was made up of sixteen professional tennis players. Imagery protocols consisted of 3 phases; the first and the third involved being focused on their deep breathing (2 min.); the second, in the NSI, first service routine (17 s.-1 min. 21 s.) and in the PSI, a match pressure situation (2 min. 10 s.). Results showed that both NSI and PSI increased heart rate. This increase was higher in the PSI and its highest point was at the maximum pressure moment: interval 5-6. In the case of brain waves, both NSI and PSI caused a decrease in gamma wave activity (intervals 3-8). In the PSI, there was also an increase in gamma waves in interval 5-6, the maximum pressure moment. Entropy was lower in the NSI. In regard to subjective ratings, in the psychological skills there were only significant differences in the PSI between pre- and post-activation at the during moment (pressure). In the imagery reality, olfactory and gustatory dimensions were the most difficult to perceive as real in the NSI and only the olfactory in the PSI., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Psychological and behavioral evidence suggests that home sports activity reduces negative moods and anxiety during lockdown days of COVID-19. Low-cost, nonintrusive, and privacy-preserving smart virtual-coach Table Tennis training assistance could help to stay active and healthy at home. In this paper, a study was performed to develop a Forehand stroke' performance evaluation system as the second principal component of the virtual-coach Table Tennis shadow-play training system. This study was conducted to show the effectiveness of the proposed LSTM model, compared with 2DCNN and RBF-SVR time-series analysis and machine learning methods, in evaluating the Table Tennis Forehand shadow-play sensory data provided by the authors. The data was generated, comprising 16 players' Forehand strokes racket's movement and orientation measurements; besides, the strokes' evaluation scores were assigned by the three coaches. The authors investigated the ML models' behaviors changed by the hyperparameters values. The experimental results of the weighted average of RMSE revealed that the modified LSTM models achieved 33.79% and 4.24% estimation error lower than 2DCNN and RBF-SVR, respectively. However, the R ¯ 2 results show that all nonlinear regression models are fit enough on the observed data. The modified LSTM is the most powerful regression method among all the three Forehand types in the current study., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Sahar S. Tabrizi et al.)

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate similarities and differences for 18 sports toward canoe/kayak in order to identify donorsport and/or multisports, based upon a systematic analysis of the task constraints per sport that are assumed to be either crucial or less important from the coaches' viewpoint., Design: Descriptive survey analysis., Methods: 891 certified coaches from 19 sports valued (0-10; not important at all-very important) 15 characteristics by a questionnaire (Flemish Sports Compass) within their sport. Unique sport-profiles (discriminant analysis - DA) were constructed for 19 sports based on these characteristics. Similarities and differences between canoe/kayak and the other 18 sports were analyzed by means of MANOVAs on anthropometric, physical and motor coordination characteristics., Results: Cross validated DA (rcan=0.660, Wilks' Lambda=0.564, p<0.001) showed that 72.1% of the canoe/kayak coaches were correctly assigned to their sport. For canoe/kayak seven characteristics were valued crucial; dynamic balance (8.51±1.69), core stability (8.45±2.27), pulling power (8.12±1.68), speed (7.54±2.07), endurance (7.27±2.03), stature (6.43±1.41) and rhythm (6.01±3.01). Least important characteristics were: flexibility (6.16±1.75), agility (4.27±3.10), catching (3.90±3.22), climbing (2.45±3.05), jumping (1.81±2.11), throwing (1.60±2.24), hitting (.94±1.77) and kicking (.61±1.04)., Conclusions: This novel approach to determine important characteristics per sport makes identifying similarities and differences between sports possible. Similarities might enlarge talent-pools for possible talent transfers. Differences can help identify sports based on complementary characteristics for the construction of broad motor development programs. From this viewpoint gymnastics can serve as potential donorsport (similarities) for canoe/kayak, while handball and tennis can subserve broad development for young canoe/kayak athletes., (Copyright © 2020 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Research on achievement goal orientations in sport has typically relied on the use of variable-centered approaches that tend to overlook population heterogeneity. In this study, we used a person-centered approach to identify subgroups of competitive tennis players according to unique combinations of achievement goal orientations and tested for subgroup differences in motivation and mental toughness., Methods: A sample of 323 competitive tennis athletes (69.35% male) between 15 and 25 years of age (17.60 ± 2.40 years, mean ± SD) completed the 3 × 2 Achievement Goal Questionnaire for Sport, Sport Motivation Scale II, and Mental Toughness Index. Latent profile analysis was used to identify unique combinations of achievement goal orientations. Comparisons between latent subgroups on autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and mental toughness were performed using analysis of variance., Results: Latent profile analysis supported 3 distinct patterns of achievement goal profiles that were primarily distinguishable based on valence of competence (i.e., approach vs. avoidance). Analyses of variance indicated that athletes who were classified into subgroups that endorsed approach types of goals (regardless of the types of avoidance goals they endorsed) reported higher levels of autonomous motivation and mental toughness., Conclusion: Results indicated that athletes tend to pursue a number of achievement goals collectively rather than in isolation. Although approach goals are more commonly linked to adaptive psychological functioning and positive outcomes, avoidance goals may also be associated with desirable psychological characteristics if they are pursued in conjunction with approach types of achievement goals., (Copyright © 2019. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.)

The objective of this study was to explore whether a training program incorporating motor imagery could have an effect on physical performance outcomes in terms of agility, speed, and reaction time in a sample of tennis athletes who fasted during the month of Ramadan. Recruited subjects were 27 young male tennis players, randomly allocated to two groups: the imaging training group ( n = 13) and a control group ( n = 14). The study was designed as a randomized, controlled experimental study. The control group was engaged in watching videos concerning the history of the Olympic Games, whereas the motor imagery group followed a motor imagery-based training program. Physical performance outcomes were assessed during four sessions (one before Ramadan and three during Ramadan) by means of field tests. Our results revealed a drop in all performance outcomes measured in the middle and at the end of Ramadan for both groups ( p < 0.01). The effect of the group × time interaction ( p < 0.01) was reported for all physical performance outcomes measured for the two groups. This drop in performance was greater for the control group compared to the motor imagery group in the middle and at the end of Ramadan. This study showed that fasting during Ramadan reduced agility, speed, and reaction time performance for tennis players. A motor imagery-based training program could be an effective approach to reduce the effect of fasting during Ramadan and stabilize physical performance outcomes in terms of agility, speed, and reaction time for male tennis players.

This study aimed to explore relationships between contextual self-determined motivation, everyday appraisals and emotions related to the competitive environment and subjective performance of young elite athletes. Thirty-one young tennis players (18.45 years ± 4.63) involved in intensive training centres completed initial (Time 0 - T0) self-determined motivation questionnaire and a fortnightly logbook including everyday cognitive appraisals, discrete emotions and subjective performance. We computed a series of hierarchical linear modelling analyses (HLM) to explore the relationships between the variables and Sobel tests to examine the mediating effects. HLM results showed that: (a) T0 autonomous motivation was positively associated with adaptive appraisals (challenge and benefits); (b) threat and loss were positively related to unpleasant emotions (anxiety, anger, dejection) and negatively associated with pleasant emotions whereas challenge and benefits were positively related to pleasant emotions and negatively associated with unpleasant emotions; (c) subjective performance was positively associated with happiness and negatively associated with dejection. Moreover, the Sobel tests revealed that: (a) appraisal was a mediator of the relationship between T0 self-determined motivation and discrete emotions; and; (b) emotions were mediators of the relationship between appraisals and subjective performance. In sum, the present study showed that young athletes' self-determined motivation assessed at the beginning of the study impacted their everyday cognitive appraisals, their experience of pleasant and unpleasant emotions, and their subjective performance levels along a 4-month period. To conclude, this study highlighted the relationships between the self-determined motivation, the emotional process and the performance of young elite athletes involving in intensive training settings.

The aims of this study were to examine: (a) whether coach leadership behaviours predict athletes' use of coping and (b) whether coping predicts athletes' emotional outcomes in competition. A sample of 180 table tennis players ( M age  = 33.87; SD = 16.64; 149 men and 31 women) voluntarily participated in the study. A partial least square path modelling (PLS-PM) approach was used to examine the relationships between the study variable. The results showed that: (a) coach democratic behaviour was significantly related to task-oriented coping; (b) task-oriented coping was significantly related to excitement and happiness; (c) distraction-oriented coping was significantly related to anxiety, dejection and anger. As a whole, PLS-PM results suggested that coach democratic behaviour could be the better style in relationship with positive coping and emotion outcomes in table tennis players.

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to examine the trajectories of athlete burnout across a 2-month period characterized by high physical, psychological, and social demands to explore (1) whether several subgroups of athletes representing distinct burnout trajectories emerged from the analyses and (2) whether athlete burnout symptoms (reduced accomplishment, sport devaluation, and exhaustion) developed in tandem or whether some burnout dimensions predicted downstream changes in other dimensions (causal ordering model)., Methods: One hundred and fifty-nine table tennis players in intensive training centers completed a self-reported athlete burnout measure across 3 time points within a 2-month period characterized by high demands. Data were analyzed through latent class growth analysis., Results: Results of latent class growth analysis showed 3 distinct trajectories for each athlete burnout dimension, indicating not only linear or quadratic change but also stability in longitudinal athlete burnout perceptions. Results also suggested that the 3 dimensions of athlete burnout did not develop in tandem. Rather, the likelihood of belonging to particular emerging trajectories of sport devaluation and physical/emotional exhaustion was significantly influenced by the athletes' perception of reduced accomplishment assessed at Time 1. Thus, reduced accomplishment predicted downstream changes in the 2 other athlete burnout dimensions., Conclusion: As a whole, these results highlighted that the multinomial heterogeneity in longitudinal athlete burnout symptoms needs to be accounted for in future research., (Copyright © 2020. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.)

Injury prevention is critical to the achievement of peak performance in elite sport. For professional tennis players, the topic of injury prevention has gained even greater importance in recent years as multiple of the best male players have been sidelined owing to injury. Identifying potential causative factors of injury is essential for the development of effective prevention strategies, yet such research is hampered by incomplete data, the complexity of injury etiology, and observational study biases. The present study attempts to address these challenges by focusing on competition load and time-loss to competition-a completely observable risk factor and outcome-and using a structural nested mean model (SNMM) to identify the potential causal role of cumulative competition load on the risk of time-loss. Using inverse probability of treatment weights to balance exposure histories with respect to player ability, past injury, and consecutive competition weeks at each time point; the SNMM analysis of 389 professional male players and 55,773 weeks of competition found that total load significantly increases the risk of time-loss (HR = 1.05 per 1,000 games of additional load 95% CI 1.01-1.10) and this effect becomes magnified with age. Standard regression showed a protective effect of load, highlighting the value of more robust causal methods in the study of dynamic exposures and injury in sport and the need for further applications of these methods for understanding how time-loss and injuries of elite athletes might be prevented in the future., Competing Interests: The author SAK was employed by Tennis Australia during the completion and writing of this study. This does not alter the author’s adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

The objective of the present study is to analyze the effects of motor mental imagery training on tennis service performance among tennis athletes who fast during Ramadan. Participants were 38 young male tennis players, randomly divided into two groups: Imaging Training (IMG, n = 18) and control group (CG, n = 20). The CG has watched videos on the history of the Olympic Games, while IMG has followed a training program in motor imagery. The performance of the tennis service was obtained by the product between accuracy and speed of typing (accuracy x average speed of all shots (km/h)). The effect of group / time interaction ( p < 0.01) was identified for all performance indicators (accuracy, running speed and performance (speed x precision)), with improvement only in IMG ( p = 0.01). The results showed that motor imagery training could be an effective strategy for mitigating/counteracting the negative effects of Ramadan on the tennis service performance., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

This cross-sectional study examined the impact of adherence to Mediterranean diet on burnout syndrome risk in 94 athletes 8-15 years old. Diet pattern and burnout syndrome risk were assessed through the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire and the KIDMED Questionnaire. 55.3% of girls and 16.1% of boys had a high risk of burnout syndrome and the risk increased with age. Of the 78.7% with low adherence to Mediterranean diet, 31.1% showed no risk of burnout syndrome, 33.8% had a moderate risk, and 35.1% high risk. Of the 21.3% with a high adherence to Mediterranean diet, 35% had no risk of burnout syndrome, 45% had a moderate risk, and 20% had a high risk. Participants with moderate/high burnout syndrome risk were more likely to be girls and spend a higher number of hours watching television or playing video games. There is not enough statistical evidence in this study to reject the independence between the level of adherence to the Mediterranean diet and the risk of burnout syndrome in children, except in the case of daily consumption of fresh or cooked vegetables.

Representative Learning Design advocates that practice should simulate the demands of competition. The effectiveness of increased task representativeness to improve serving skill of junior tennis players was assessed after a six-week intervention. Thirty-three participants (15.4 ± 1.9 years of age) were assigned to one of the three groups; "serve only" (participants served to no opponent), "serve return" (participants served to an opponent and hit no extra shots) or "serve +3 rd " (participants served to an opponent and hit one extra shot). Using the validated representative practice assessment tool (RPAT) tasks were considered to be low, moderate and high in task representativeness, respectively. Participants hit 56 serves, twice weekly for 6-weeks. Pre and post serving performances were assessed via a skill test and in-situ matchplay using SportsCode and HawkEye ball tracking, respectively. Serve speed, landing locations, serve angle and positional advantage was obtained for 1 st and 2 nd serves. The relationship between increasing representativeness and increased skill acquisition was not linear, rather different behaviours emerged. For example, when hitting 2 nd serves in matchplay, the low and moderate representative groups prioritised speed over placement while the high representative group prioritised placement over speed. Coaches therefore need to carefully individualise representativeness to an athletes' specific needs.

The purpose of this study was to determine the optimal inner-shoe volume for children tennis players. Sixteen participants, aged from 8 to 12 years old assessed comfort of 6 shoes, which were a combination of 3 lasts (thin, medium and wide) and 2 upper constructions (flexible and stiff), while a sock equipped with textile sensors was measuring the pressure applied on their foot. The thin last was based on the proportion of an adult last. The widest shoes produced the lowest pressure on the 1st and 5th metatarsal heads, the medial midfoot and the medial and lateral heel (p < 0.05), whilst they were perceived the most comfortable for the 3rd and 5th metatarsal heads, the 5th metatarsal base and the medial and lateral heel (p < 0.05). These outcomes indicated that footwear manufacturers should design wider shoes for children than for adults., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study aimed to compare the effects of coach encouragement during the on-court tennis training drills (OTDs) on the psychophysiological and performance responses of young tennis players. Twenty-five young male tennis players (14.0 ± 0.3 years of age) performed six bouts of each of the four common OTDs; Star, Suicide, Box and Big X (30:60 s; 1:2 work to rest ratio). The heart rate (HR) and total distance covered were monitored using two portable multivariable integrated 10 Hz GPS monitoring devices during all OTDs, and the rating of perceived exertion (RPE-10) and short form Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale (PACES) values were determined after each OTDs bout. The results demonstrated that OTDs with coach encouragement induced significantly higher psychophysiological and performance responses compared to OTDs without coach encouragement ( p < 0.05). The results of this study confirm that coach encouragement improves the intensity, performance and physical enjoyment level during OTDs. These findings might inform training practices in youth tennis players in order to improve tennis performance.

The aims of this study were to examine the effect of different environmental constraints on kinematic multi-segment coordination patterns during the service and its coordination with service time variability. Ten expert tennis players (Age: 34.1 ± 5.3) volunteered to take part in this study. Participants served 30 times in 3 different conditions: control, target and opposition. The order of conditions was counterbalanced between participants. A wireless 3D motion capture system (STT Co, Spain) was used to measure 7 joint motions, with a 17 degrees of freedom biomechanical model created to capture the entire service action. Results of the principal component analysis showed that 4 synergies were created; however, their roles were changed relative to the perception of the environment. The results of repeated-measures analysis of variance did not show any significant difference on total variance and individual principal components between conditions; however, one synergy pattern significantly predicted the service time variability in both control and opposition conditions. In conclusion, the findings demonstrated that expert performers reduce the joint dimensionality by creating functional synergies in different phases of service and adapt the service action according to the perception of the environment.

Grunting in tennis is a widespread phenomenon and whether it influences opponents' predictions of ball trajectory-and if so, why-is subject of ongoing debate. Two alternative hypotheses have been proposed to explain why grunting may impede opponents' predictions, referred to as the distraction account (i.e., grunts capture attentional resources necessary for anticipation) and the multisensory integration account (i.e., auditory information from the grunt systematically influences ball trajectory prediction typically assumed to rely on visual information). To put these competing hypotheses to test, in the current study we presented tennis players with a series of temporally occluded video clips of tennis rallies featuring experimentally amplified, attenuated, or muted grunting sounds. Participants were asked to predict the ball landing position. Results indicated that higher grunt intensities yielded judgments of longer ball trajectories whereas radial prediction errors were not affected. These results are clearly at odds with the distraction account of grunting, predicting increased prediction errors after higher intensity grunts. In contrast, our findings provide strong support for the multisensory integration account by demonstrating that grunt intensity systematically influences judgments of ball trajectory., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

This study evaluates whether high levels of executive function predict competition results 18 months later in junior tennis players. Forty junior tennis players (20 girls, 20 boys; 9-15 years old) who regularly participate in prefecture tennis tournaments were recruited. All participants underwent executive function evaluations (the Design Fluency Task) in July 2015 and their prefecture junior rankings in August 2015 and February 2017 were recorded. As a result, after controlling for age and gender, the future ranking (February 2017) was significantly predicted by performance in the Design Fluency Task (β = -.30, p = .02; ΔR 2  = .08), whereas the prediction for August 2015 rank as the baseline was not significant (β = -.19, p = .17; ΔR 2  = .03). After controlling for age, gender, and ranking in the baseline, the change in ranking was significantly predicted by performance in the Design Fluency Task (β = -.14, p = .02; ΔR 2  = .02). This suggests that childhood executive function may play a significant role in success later in life. This study highlights how executive function predicts future success in a specific sport; as such, supporting the development of executive function may contribute to higher competition results.

Although many studies on choking under pressure used closed skills, such as golf putting, we examined the influence of pressure on movement during a dynamic skill by studying participants' kinematic and kinetic changes during a table tennis forehand task under pressure. Thirty novice table tennis players hit forehand shots toward a target for 135 practice trials and then performed 10 no-pressure and 10 pressure trials. We added psychological pressure by instructing participants they could earn monetary rewards for successful performance and by cancelling accumulated scores for a poor performance. We measured racket head and ball movements as kinematic variables and grip force as a kinetic variable. We also measured state anxiety and heart rate as checks on our manipulation of psychological pressure. In the pressure condition, both state anxiety and heart rate increased significantly ( p < .025), though the pressure level was relatively small. Analysis of kinematic measures revealed that back swing and forward swing were reduced in length; speed of forward swing and ball speed decreased significantly ( p < .008) under pressure. Also, under pressure, ball and racket contact point shifted forward significantly ( p < .008) to reduce the distance between impact and target locations, and performance declined as the ball-landing locations shifted leftward ( p < .007). Grip force showed no significant change. We conclude that, under pressure, movement was modified toward reduced displacement and lower speed in an apparent risk-aversive hitting strategy; these modifications resulted in a performance decrement.

This study aimed to investigate whether the isotropy bias (estimating one's own motor variance as an approximately circular distribution rather than a vertically elongated distribution) arises in tennis players for the estimation of the two-dimensional variance for forehand strokes in tennis (Experiment 1), as well as the process underlying the isotropy bias (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, 31 tennis players were asked to estimate prospectively their distribution of ball landing positions. They were then instructed to hit 50 forehand strokes. We compared the eccentricity of the ellipse calculated from estimated and observed landing positions. Eccentricity was significantly smaller in the estimated ellipse than in the observed ellipse. We assumed that the isotropy bias for the estimated ellipse comes from the process of variance estimation. In Experiment 2, nine participants estimated the 95% confidence interval of 300 dots. Eccentricity was significantly smaller in their estimated ellipses than it was in the ellipses for the dots, though the magnitude of bias decreased for the estimation of dots. These results suggest that the isotropy bias in tennis ball landing position includes the bias of recognizing landing position and the bias of estimating the ellipse confidence interval from the recognized landing position.

The aim of this systematic review is to provide an overview of outcome measures and instruments identified in the literature for examining technical and tactical skills in tennis related to performance levels. Such instruments can be used to identify talent or the specific skill development training needs of particular players. Searches for this review were conducted using the PubMed, Web of Science , and PsycInfo databases. Out of 733 publications identified through these searches, 40 articles were considered relevant and included in this study. They were divided into three categories: (1) technical skills, (2) tactical skills and (3) integrated technical and tactical skills. There was strong evidence that technical skills (ball velocity and to a lesser extent ball accuracy) and tactical skills (decision making, anticipation, tactical knowledge and visual search strategies) differed among players according to their performance levels. However, integrated measurement of these skills is required, because winning a point largely hinges on a tactical decision to perform a particular stroke (i.e., technical execution). Therefore, future research should focus on examining the relationship between these skills and tennis performance and on the development of integrated methods for measuring these skills.

The current study examined the development of psychological momentum (PM) in table tennis and the effect of a time-out. Eighty table tennis players were exposed to an audiovisual scenario, in which they either came back from 1-7 to 7-7 in an all-decisive game (positive momentum), or in which the opponent came back from 7-1 to 7-7 (negative momentum). Furthermore, at the score of 7-7 a time-out was called. One group of participants received no specific instructions during the time-out, whereas the other group received task (mastery-approach - MAp) instructions. Overall, PM perceptions increased for participants in the positive momentum condition, but decreased rapidly for participants in the negative momentum condition. In addition, the time-out led to a loss of PM in the positive momentum condition, but to a recovery of PM in the negative momentum condition. The instructions during the time-out did not make a significant difference. Together, these results suggest that scoring patterns in a table tennis game significantly affect the PM of players. Furthermore, a player or coach could benefit from calling a time-out in a negative momentum situation, as this provides an opportunity to psychologically recover.

Research has suggested the need to use a person-centred approach to examine multidimensionality of motivation. Guided by self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), the primary aim of the present study was to examine the motivational profiles in table tennis players and their composition by gender, country, training status, and competition levels (from recreational to international). The secondary aim was to examine the differences in performance anxiety and subjective vitality across the motivational profiles. Participants were 281 table tennis players from multiple countries, mostly the U.S. and China. Hierarchical and nonhierarchical cluster analyses were conducted and showed three motivational profiles with distinct quantity and quality: "low", "controlled", and "self-determined". Chi-square tests of independence demonstrated significant differences in their cluster membership by country, formal training with a coach, and competition levels, but not gender. MANCOVA results indicated differences in performance anxiety and subjective vitality across the motivational profiles, in which the controlled profile had the greatest anxiety symptoms. These differences are attributed to the quality over quantity of motivation, which have meaningful implications for table tennis coaches and sport psychology consultants to diagnose and intervene with players in order to reduce their performance anxiety and improve their well-being.

This study aimed at evaluating the effects of mental and muscle fatigue on table tennis performance. Mental fatigue (MF) was induced by completion of 90 minutes of the AX-CPT; muscle fatigue was induced by completion of an eccentric exercise performed with the elbow flexors (biceps fatigue, BF) or the knee extensors (quadriceps fatigue, QF). The control condition consisted of watching a movie. Stroke parameters (speed and accuracy of the ball), as well as feelings of fatigue and force production capacity of the elbow flexors (BF, MF and control conditions) and knee extensors (QF condition), were assessed pre and post fatigue protocols. Feelings of fatigue increased post fatigue protocols. Force production capacity decreased only in the BF and QF conditions. BF and MF induced a decrease in accuracy. This decrease in accuracy was associated with an increased ball speed in the BF condition, and a decreased ball speed in the MF condition. QF had a negligible effect on stroke performance. Our results suggest that both mental fatigue, and muscle fatigue, significantly impair table tennis performance and therefore coaches should take into account both the physical and mental state of table tennis players to optimize performance.

Background: Cognitive ability, such as attention shifting, during tennis matches may be associated with players' performance through physical ability, technique, and exercise intensity. However, examinations of the relationship between attention shifting and performance in sport are limited to laboratory settings. The present study examined the relationships between exercise intensity, attention shifting, and tennis performance in singles tennis matches involving university tennis players using a field-based approach., Methods: Sixteen university tennis players participated. Participants were evaluated concerning their attention shifting using a local-global task before a singles tennis match (pre-test: 0 minutes), during the match (inter-test: 30 minutes), and after the match (post-test: 60 minutes). Exercise intensity was evaluated using a heart rate monitor and ratings of perceived exertion., Results: Higher ratings of perceived exertion and longer duration of vigorous physical activity were correlated with lower attention shifting at the inter-test period. Higher attention shifting at inter-test was related to greater tennis performance., Conclusions: The present study suggests that greater attention shifting during a singles tennis match may be related to higher quality tennis performance, and higher exercise intensity and perceived exertion may be associated with impairment of attention shifting during a match. Strategies for maintaining attention shifting during high-intensity physical activity in a tennis singles match may contribute to improved tennis performance.

This study examined the prognostic relevance of self-determined motivation, coping, burnout, perceived stress and recovery experienced by 159 youth table-tennis players involved in intensive training centers with regard to their participation and success six years later. Results of ANCOVAs showed that players who still practiced at time 2 (T2; six years later; n = 130) reported lower time 1 (T1; while they were involved in intensive training centers) amotivation (large effect), disengagement-oriented coping, sport devaluation and reduced accomplishment (moderate effects) than their counterparts who dropped out at T2 (n = 29). Results of ANCOVAs also showed that international (n = 18) and/or national players (n = 86) at T2 reported significantly lower T1 amotivation (large effect), disengagement-oriented coping and sport devaluation (moderate effects) in comparison to regional (n = 26) players at T2. Finally results of correlational analyses showed that T2 performance and/or six-year performance progress were significantly and weakly correlated with introjected and external regulations, perceived stress and perceived recovery, and significantly and moderately correlated with amotivation, disengagement-oriented coping, sport devaluation, and reduced accomplishment. Overall, this study provided insights into the role played by self-determined motivation, coping, burnout, perceived stress and recovery in the table-tennis players' dropout and performance level six years later.

The present study aimed to assess the effects of 12 months of frequent tennis play on executive functions and the relationships of daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), physical competence, and enjoyment of playing tennis to executive functions in children. Thirty-two children (6-11 years old) who had regularly played tennis (once a week; mean = 3 years, range = 0-6 years) before the study were enrolled in a 12-month intervention. Participants were allocated into two groups: low-dose (maintain current frequency of tennis play, N = 19) or high-dose (increased frequency of tennis play to four times per week, N = 13). Participants' MVPA, physical competence, enjoyment of playing tennis, and executive functions (i.e. inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) were evaluated before and after this intervention. The high-dose group demonstrated a greater improvement in working memory than the low-dose group, while there was no group difference in MVPA, physical competence, and enjoyment of playing tennis. Changes in MVPA were associated with improvements in cognitive flexibility. Changes in physical competence were associated with improvements in working memory and cognitive flexibility. Changes in the enjoyment of playing tennis were associated with improvements in inhibitory control. The current findings suggest that replacement of MVPA with sports activity, such as tennis enhances executive functions development, and suggest that sports programmes that seek to build competence and enjoyment might help support the development of executive functions in children.

Extensive studies have shown that a sports expert is superior to a sports novice in visually perceptual-cognitive processes of sports scene information, however the attentional and neural basis of it has not been thoroughly explored. The present study examined whether a sport expert has the attentional superiority on scene information relevant to his/her sport skill, and explored what factor drives this superiority. To address this problem, EEGs were recorded as participants passively viewed sport scenes (tennis vs. non-tennis) and negative emotional faces in the context of a visual attention task, where the pictures of sport scenes or of negative emotional faces randomly followed the pictures with overlapping sport scenes and negative emotional faces. ERP results showed that for experts, the evoked potential of attentional competition elicited by the overlap of tennis scene was significantly larger than that evoked by the overlap of non-tennis scene, while this effect was absent for novices. The LORETA showed that the experts' left medial frontal gyrus (MFG) cortex was significantly more active as compared to the right MFG when processing the overlap of tennis scene, but the lateralization effect was not significant in novices. Those results indicate that experts have attentional superiority on skill-related scene information, despite intruding the scene through negative emotional faces that are prone to cause negativity bias toward their visual field as a strong distractor. This superiority is actuated by the activation of left MFG cortex and probably due to self-reference., (Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The purpose of this study was to assess the interpersonal coordination during official male tennis matches in players of different skill levels. Players' trajectories of three levels (Juvenile, ATP-Future, ATP-250) were obtained using video-based tracking system. A vector coding technique was applied to obtain players' interpersonal coordination in four coordination patterns: "anti-phase", "in-phase", "serving player phase" and "returning player phase". These patterns allowed identification of the nature of the coupling and lead/lag relations between players. In all categories, players presented higher degree of "anti-phase" and "serving player phase" (when only the serving player is moving on the court or his opponent is moving with a time lag) coordination. Young players spent more time in "serving player phase" during lateral displacements than professional players. On the other hand, professional players spent more time in "returning player phase" (when only the returning player is moving on the court or his opponent is moving with a time lag) during antero posterior displacements, than young players. Interpersonal coordination did not change from the first to the second set of the match, showing that tennis players maintain their displacement characteristics and strategy, independently of proficiency level. The vector coding technique allowed to identify new coordination patterns in tennis, providing additional information about tennis dynamics and how players from different categories and proficiency levels behave during the matches., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Optimum levels of attentional control are essential to prevent athletes from experiencing performance breakdowns under pressure. The current study explored whether training attentional control using the adaptive dual n-back paradigm, designed to directly target processing efficiency of the main executive functions of working memory (WM), would result in transferrable effects on sports performance outcomes. A total of 30 tennis players were allocated to an adaptive WM training or active control group and underwent 10 days of training. Measures of WM capacity as well as performance and objective gaze indices of attentional control in a tennis volley task were assessed in low- and high-pressure posttraining conditions. Results revealed significant benefits of training on WM capacity, quiet eye offset, and tennis performance in the high-pressure condition. Our results confirm and extend previous findings supporting the transfer of cognitive training benefits to objective measures of sports performance under pressure.

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the relationships between cognitively engaging exercise (i.e., game-based and coordination exercises), executive functions (i.e., inhibitory control and working memory), and physical fitness. Forty junior tennis players (6-12 years old), who regularly participated in tennis lessons (2.55 years, SD = 1.61) prior to the study, were investigated. All participants completed evaluations of executive functions (inhibitory control and working memory) at rest. The duration of each lessons' instructional activities, including coordination training, game-based exercise, rallying, and non-physical activity (explanations and breaks), was recorded. Physical fitness was evaluated using the Tennis Field Test. A longer duration of game-based exercise was positively correlated with inhibitory control and physical fitness. Coordination training was associated with improved working memory. Non-physical activity was inversely correlated with inhibitory control, working memory, and physical fitness. The results suggest that game-based tennis lessons have beneficial effects on inhibitory control and physical fitness levels, and a longer duration of coordination training is associated with better working memory. The present study indicates that shortened non-physical activity time within a sports setting is associated with the development of executive functions and physical fitness.

Elite tennis is characterised by repeated bouts of up to 5-set match play, yet little is known about the technical requirements of shots played. This study therefore investigated technical performance changes over consecutive days of prolonged, simulated tennis match play. A total of 7 well-trained men tennis players performed 4 consecutive days of competitive 4-h match play. Matches were notated to determine between-day changes in groundstroke and serve performance, as well as point and match durations. Changes ≥75% likely to exceed the smallest important effect size (0.2) were considered meaningful and represented as effect size ± 90% confidence interval. Effective playing time reduced on days 3 and 4, alongside likely increases in "stretch" groundstrokes over the 4 days (mean effect size ± 90% confidence interval; 0.57 ± 0.38) and "stretch" backhand returns on days 2 and 3 (0.39 ± 0.54 and 0.67 ± 0.55). Relative unforced errors increased on day 4 (vs. day 2; 0.36 ± 0.22) and second-serve winning percentage reduced after day 1 (-0.47 ± 0.50). Further, a likely increase in emotional outbursts characterised day 3 (vs. day 2; 0.73 ± 0.57). Consecutive-day match play impairs hitting accuracy, stroke positioning and emotional responses; an understanding of which prepares players for elite-standard tennis tournament play.

This study evaluated the association between the frequency of tennis play and executive function in children and adolescents. One hundred and six junior tennis players (6-15 years old) participated in this study. Executive function, including inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility were evaluated at rest. Females showed better inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility than males. In males, more frequent tennis play was associated with higher basic processing speed and inhibitory control after controlling for age, gender, body mass index (BMI), and tennis experience. More frequent tennis play was associated with better working memory in both males and females after controlling for age, gender, BMI, and tennis experience. Furthermore, longer tennis experience was related to better cognitive flexibility in males after controlling for age, gender, BMI, and frequency of tennis play. These findings suggest that tennis play is associated with the development of three foundational aspects of executive function (i.e. inhibitory control, working memory, cognitive flexibility). Especially, frequent participation in tennis play is related to better inhibitory control and working memory, while longer experience of tennis play is associated with better cognitive flexibility. Although development of inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility is slower in males than in females, the associations between tennis play and inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility appear to be larger in males than in females.

The aim of the present study was to test whether the peripersonal space (PPS), defined as the portion of the space immediately surrounding the body, is modulated by the long-term motor experience with a specific tool in a sportsmen population. To this end, we evaluated, by means of a multisensory integration paradigm, how tennis players and novices to the sport of tennis perceived the PPS while holding a tennis racket. Going deeply, in the case of the athletes, we tested the effect of their personal racket, i.e., the one they regularly use during their sport activities, compared to a common one. When handling one of these objects or nothing, participants were requested to verbally respond to a tactile stimulus administered at the right wrist while hearing a task-irrelevant sound emitted by a speaker positioned either near to the hand (Near) or far from it (Far). Reaction time to a tactile stimulus associated with the Far sound were higher than those associated with the Near sound when tennis players and novices held the common racket, whereas this difference disappeared when the athletes handled the personal tennis racket. These results suggest that the tool daily used during sport activity is stably embodied in the peripersonal space of tennis players., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Anticipation of opponent actions, through the use of advanced (i.e., pre-event) kinematic information, can be trained using video-based temporal occlusion. Typically, this involves isolated opponent skills/shots presented as trials in a random order. However, two different areas of research concerning representative task design and contextual (non-kinematic) information, suggest this structure of practice restricts expert performance. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of a sequential structure of practice during video-based training of anticipatory behavior in tennis, as well as the transfer of these skills to the performance environment., Methods: In a pre-practice-retention-transfer design, participants viewed life-sized video of tennis rallies across practice in either a sequential order (sequential group), in which participants were exposed to opponent skills/shots in the order they occur in the sport, or a non-sequential (non-sequential group) random order., Results: In the video-based retention test, the sequential group was significantly more accurate in their anticipatory judgments when the retention condition replicated the sequential structure compared to the non-sequential group. In the non-sequential retention condition, the non-sequential group was more accurate than the sequential group. In the field-based transfer test, overall decision time was significantly faster in the sequential group compared to the non-sequential group., Conclusion: Findings highlight the benefits of a sequential structure of practice for the transfer of anticipatory behavior in tennis. We discuss the role of contextual information, and the importance of representative task design, for the testing and training of perceptual-cognitive skills in sport.

This study evaluated the effects of two different types of tennis lessons-those involving a technique-based approach (TBA) and those involving a game-based approach (PLAY+STAY [P+S])-on the executive functions (EFs) of junior tennis players. Eighty-one tennis players (6-12 years old) were recruited and assigned to one of three groups: TBA, P+S, or watching TV (CONT). Subjects completed evaluations of EFs (inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) before and after 50min programs. The overall score for EFs improved significantly for both the P+S and TBA groups but not for the CONT group; indeed the CONT group showed no improvement in overall EFs. Furthermore, the overall EF score improved more for P+S participants than for those in TBA. Looking at components of EFs, the pattern for inhibitory control reflected the pattern for the overall EF index: Improvement in the P+S and TBA groups but not in the CONT group. Only the P+S group improved in working memory. Thus, playing tennis and practicing isolated tennis skills both improved EFs of junior players more than did watching TV, and game-based tennis lessons seem to hold more promise for improving EFs than drills of tennis skills., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Grounded in self-determination theory, this experimental study examined whether the valence (i.e., positive vs. negative) and style (i.e., autonomy-supportive vs. controlling) of normative feedback impact the self-talk, motivational experiences (i.e., psychological need satisfaction and enjoyment), and behavioral functioning (i.e., perseverance and performance) of tennis players (N = 120; M age  = 24.50 ± 9.86 years). Positive feedback and an autonomy-supportive style positively influenced players' enjoyment and perseverance, with psychological need satisfaction and self-talk playing an intervening role. While positive feedback yielded its beneficial effect via greater competence satisfaction and decreased negative self-talk, the beneficial impact of an autonomy-supportive communication style was explained via greater autonomy satisfaction.

Attentional control is a necessary function for the regulation of goal-directed behavior. In three experiments we investigated whether training inhibitory control using a visual search task could improve task-specific measures of attentional control and performance. In Experiment 1 results revealed that training elicited a near-transfer effect, improving performance on a cognitive (antisaccade) task assessing inhibitory control. In Experiment 2 an initial far-transfer effect of training was observed on an index of attentional control validated for tennis. The principal aim of Experiment 3 was to expand on these findings by assessing objective gaze measures of inhibitory control during the performance of a tennis task. Training improved inhibitory control and performance when pressure was elevated, confirming the mechanisms by which cognitive anxiety impacts performance. These results suggest that attentional control training can improve inhibition and reduce taskspecific distractibility with promise of transfer to more efficient sporting performance in competitive contexts.