Center for Human Movement Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Knowledge Center for Sport and Physical Activity, Ede, the Netherlands.
PLoS One. 2021 Jan 13;16(1):e0245435. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245435. eCollection 2021.
The aim of this study is to examine whether technical characteristics predict current and future tennis performance of youth tennis players. Twenty-nine male youth tennis players (age 13.40 ± .51) were assessed on anthropometrical characteristics (height, weight, maturity status) and technical characteristics (ball speed, accuracy and percentage errors) using an on-court tennis test when they were under-14 (U14). Game situations were simulated, which were either fixed or variable. The variable game situations required players to consider the direction of the ball, as opposed to the fixed game situations where players needed to play every ball to the same side. Players' tennis ratings were obtained U14 ('current performance') and under-18 (U18) ('future performance'). According to their rating U18 players were classified as future elite (n = 9) or future competitive (n = 20). A multiple linear regression analysis showed that ball speed and accuracy were significant predictors of current and future performance (p < .001), with R2 of .595 and .463, respectively. When controlling for age, a one-way MANCOVA revealed that future elite players were more accurate than future competitive players (p = .048, 95% CI [.000 to .489]), especially in variable compared to fixed game situations (p < .05). In conclusion, the current study is the first to show that technical characteristics are crucial for current as well as future performance in youth male tennis players. Findings of this prospective study provide essential information to coaches about characteristics that require most attention in performance development in youth players.
本研究旨在探讨技术特征是否能预测青少年网球运动员的当前和未来表现。29 名 13.40±0.51 岁的男性青少年网球运动员在 14 岁以下（U14）时使用场上网球测试评估了人体测量特征（身高、体重、成熟度）和技术特征（球速、准确性和误差百分比）。模拟了固定和可变的比赛情况。与需要将每一个球打到同一侧的固定比赛情况不同，可变的比赛情况要求运动员考虑球的方向。运动员的网球评级是在 U14 时获得的（“当前表现”）和 U18 时获得的（“未来表现”）。根据 U18 的评级，球员被分为未来精英（n=9）或未来竞技（n=20）。多元线性回归分析表明，球速和准确性是当前和未来表现的显著预测指标（p<0.001），其 R2 分别为 0.595 和 0.463。当控制年龄时，单向 MANCOVA 显示未来精英球员比未来竞技球员更准确（p=0.048，95%置信区间 [0.000 至 0.489]），尤其是在可变比赛情况下比固定比赛情况下更准确（p<0.05）。总之，本研究首次表明，技术特征对于青少年男性网球运动员的当前和未来表现至关重要。这项前瞻性研究的结果为教练提供了有关在青少年球员表现发展中需要最关注的特征的重要信息。
