Crespol M, Reid M, Miley D, Atienza F
International Tnis Federation, Tennis Development Department, London.
J Sci Med Sport. 2003 Mar;6(1):3-13. doi: 10.1016/s1440-2440(03)80003-8.
This article discusses the relationship between a nation's men's professional tennis tournament structure and that nation's success in the international men's game. The 2002 men's professional tennis tournament calendar provided the distribution of events on the top thirty nations. Criteria for a nation's success in men's professional tennis were: nation's number of players with ATP points, nation's number of players in the top 200 ranking, and the combined ATP ranking of a nation's top 5 male players. Pearson correlations were performed between the number of tournaments and each criterion. Results showed a considerable variation in the number of events ranging between 67 (United States) and 4 (Sweden). On the other hand, 29 of the 30 countries had Internationally ranked male player/s and 22 had player/s ranked inside the top 200. Results also showed that: 1. nations with a high number of men's professional events are best positioned to provide for more professionally ranked players, 2. nations with more professional men's tournaments are likely to experience success in the men's international game, and 3. having a high number of tournaments is not a prerequisite to having a group of players ranked among the game's elite. It can be concluded that competition is an important factor in player development and that countries who want to be successful at the professional level should try to provide best competitive progression for their players.
本文探讨了一个国家男子职业网球赛事结构与该国在国际男子网球比赛中的成功之间的关系。2002年男子职业网球赛事日程提供了前三十个国家的赛事分布情况。一个国家在男子职业网球方面取得成功的标准包括：拥有ATP积分的球员数量、排名前200的球员数量以及该国排名前五的男性球员的ATP综合排名。对赛事数量与每个标准之间进行了皮尔逊相关性分析。结果显示赛事数量差异很大，从67项（美国）到4项（瑞典）不等。另一方面，30个国家中有29个国家有国际排名的男性球员，22个国家有排名在前200以内的球员。结果还表明：1. 男子职业赛事数量多的国家最有能力培养出更多有职业排名的球员；2. 男子职业赛事更多的国家在男子国际比赛中更有可能取得成功；3. 赛事数量多并不是拥有一群排名在该项运动精英之列的球员的先决条件。可以得出结论，竞争是球员发展的一个重要因素，想要在职业层面取得成功的国家应该努力为其球员提供最佳的竞争进程。
