Performance, competitive volume and play level in profesional tennis players

Abstract

The ATP World Tour comprises more than 80 tournaments, in about 40 countries. It is organized in different categories which reflect prize money and ranking points. Currently, the players play more tournaments than ever and therefore have a few training and recovery periods. This study aim was to determine the relationships between performance and competitive volume parameters and the play level in professional players. We analyzed top 50 players in the world results during 52 weeks in 2009 and 2010 seasons. The players played an average of 25.5 ± 3.8 and 25.2 ± 3.5 tournaments and 65.8 ± 10.7 and 62.6 ± 11.8 matches per season. There was a significant moderate negative relationship between tournaments number and ranking (r = -0.537 and r = -0.533, P <0.001). There also was a discrete but significant positive relationship between played matches number and ranking (r = 0.367 and r = 0.301, P <0.05). Consequently, higher level players play fewer tournaments per season, tend to play more matches and get more competitive performance.