Aerobic Fitness and Technical Efficiency at High Intensity Discriminate between Elite and Subelite Tennis Players

Abstract The aim of this study was to determine whether selected physiological, performance and technical parameters derived from an on-court test are capable of discriminating between tennis players of national and international levels. 38 elite and subelite tennis players were divided into international level (INT, n=8) and national level players (NAT, n=30). They all performed a specific endurance field test, and selected physiological (maximum oxygen uptake [V˙O 2max ], and ventilatory thresholds [VT 1 and VT 2 ]), performance (test duration, final stage and hits per test) and technical (technical effectiveness [TE]) parameters were compared. INT showed greater V˙O 2max , VO 2 at VT 2 (ml·kg −1 ·min −1 ), test duration (s), final stage (no.), hits per test (no.) and TE (% of successful hits), as compared with NAT (p