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Vo2 max in Tennis: An important aspect of readiness for competition, but only one aspect

3/8/2021

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By Phil Yoss

​One of the very common measurements we use to quantify the level of someone's cardiovascular fitness is the VO2 max. This is the measure of maximum oxygen consumption that is derived from a bout of incrementally intense exercise(
1). When thinking about how to improve in sports one common idea is to just get in better shape cardiovascularly. This applies both to endurance sports and fast-paced, intense sports.  There are of course many other aspects to sports performance than cardiovascular fitness. It should be one of the foundations of most sports programs to include focus on athletes cardiovascular fitness. 


The most valid and reliable way for us to do this would be in the laboratory setting. Performing a vo2 max test via incremental intensities on a motorized treadmill is the recommended method for tennis players(2). Doing this test with the accompanying metabolic cart is a very involved process. It requires trained professionals and specialized equipment. While it is a very valid measure of vo2 max it is not practical to expect each athlete to get a test of this sort.

So how can we practically figure out someone’s VO2 max without bringing them into a lab to test them? There are various practical ways of estimating an athletes current Vo2 max. Some of them are general and some are more specific. One of these tests which has been shown to be reliable and specific to tennis play is the 30-15 intermittent fitness test(3). Another which could be utilized for tennis fitness testing is the Yo Yo intermittent fitness test(4). These tests are very specific to tennis play, but not completely practical as they must be administered one on one with an athlete and coach. One test that is commonly used in sports for its ability to be administered with minimal equipment and in groups is the multistage shuttle test or beep test. This test has been found to be acceptable valid given its convenience and correlation to direct measurements(5,6). Since administering the beep test can be done practically and simply in groups of athletes it is one of our go to tests here at CourtSense. 
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Results from these tests, whether general or specific, can do many things for us. They can tell us where someone is at with their fitness. They can also help us determine proper paces for running in sport and conditioning practice(3). 

Here you can see a table of potential results for various player levels on the beep tests and the corresponding meaning of those results. 
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So once we have the information obtained through one of these tests what can we do with it. As described above, it can help us determine training paces. This information can also help us determine where the athlete stands in relation to their cohort of age and sport performance level(7). This will then tell us whether increasing fitness should be a priority or whether it can be put on the back burner. 
 
How is it exactly that the increases in fitness will aid an athlete on the court? Athletes' on court performance is improved by improving recovery from the fast paced stop and go type of exercise that is included in many of these types of sports (8). This also aids in performance by requiring a lower HR and reduced psychological effort to maintain the same paces (9). Thus the athletes will not fatigue during extended games or matches to as high of a degree. This is good because an increase in fatigue can cause a decrease in accuracy of both groundstrokes and serves. More generally the skill performance of a sport that has high technical demands deteriorates when an athlete is fatigued (10). 

Our aim then in aerobic and anaerobic training is to decrease an athlete’s fatigability to make them more resilient to it. Thus also hopefully allowing them to maintain their high level skilled movements deep into the game or match.

End for part one 



(1)Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). VO2 max. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved January 30, 2021, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/VO2%20max
(2)Reid M, Quinn A, Crespo M. Strength and conditioning for tennis. International Tennis Federation, 2003.
(3)Buchheit, Martin The 30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test: Accuracy for Individualizing Interval Training of Young Intermittent Sport Players, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: March 2008 - Volume 22 - Issue 2 - p 365-374 doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181635b2e
(4)Krustrup P, Mohr M, Amstrup T, Rysgaard T, Johansen J, Steensberg A, Pedersen PK, Bangsbo J. The yo-yo intermittent recovery test: physiological response, reliability, and validity. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2003 Apr;35(4):697-705. doi: 10.1249/01.MSS.0000058441.94520.32. PMID: 12673156.
(5) Léger LA,Lambert J. A maximal multistage 20-m shuttle run test to predict VO2 max. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol 1982;49:1–12
(6)Leger LA, Mercier D, Gadoury C, et al. The multistage 20 metre shuttle run test for aerobic fitness. J Sports Sci 1988;6:93–101
(7)Roetert E, Piorkowski P, Woods R, et al . Establishing percentiles for junior tennis players based on physical fitness testing results. Clin Sports Med 1995;14:1
(8)Tomlin, D. L., & Wenger, H. A. (2001). The Relationship Between Aerobic Fitness and Recovery from High Intensity Intermittent Exercise. Sports Medicine, 31(1), 1–11. doi:10.2165/00007256-200131010-00001
(9)Baiget E, Fernández-Fernández J, Iglesias X, Rodríguez FA (2015) Tennis Play Intensity Distribution and Relation with Aerobic Fitness in Competitive Players.PLoSONE 10(6):e0131304.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0131304
(10)Davey PR, Thorpe RD, Williams C. Fatigue decreases skilled tennis performance. J Sports Sci 2002;20:311–18.
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2 Comments
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