As yet, on-court hydration and thermal strain responses published in tennis research remain relatively limited and limited; perhaps this should come as no surprise given the unique environmental, logistical and scheduling demands associated with high-level tournament tennis play.
Consumption of salt before and during tennis training sessions was shown to enhance groundstroke performance while alleviating symptoms associated with dehydration, such as thirst and gastrointestinal (GI) discomfort.
1. Increased Energy
Tennis requires both an excellent aerobic capacity and anaerobic energy system for success, with short duration explosive bursts of activity spread out throughout a match that can last hours. These short rest periods challenge an athlete’s glycogen stores.
Studies have demonstrated that high levels of fatigue can adversely impact performance and could be partly attributed to reduced glycogen availability. By regularly consuming fluids and foods containing CHO, one can increase glycogen availability and thus help decrease fatigue levels and boost performance.
As tennis is an outdoor summer sport, it’s vital that athletes understand and meet their hydration needs. Professional players often spend 25-40 hours training per week – outside of regular matches, tournaments and coaching sessions – on court and elsewhere in addition to participating in matches, tournaments and coaching sessions.
Players sweat up to 2.5 L*h-1 during competition and gastric emptying rates may be low, making it challenging to consume the necessary fluids during competition and risk hypohydration which could compromise cognitive functions.
To reduce the risk of hypohydration, players are recommended to consume drinks containing electrolytes both before and during their match or training session. This will increase hydration rates significantly and improve compliance with beverage strategies; such as water, sports drinks or carb-rich drinks that they can tolerate may all help ensure greater chances of success for athletes as they choose an easy drink to swallow and digest for increased gastrointestinal comfort.
2. Increased Mental Focus
Tennis requires both body and mind to be sharp to succeed. The hectic nature of the game and ebb-and-flow of each point can be dizzyingly distracting; players must maintain a laser focus that allows them to remain on the ball, their opponent and court at all times; this helps avoid mistakes being made while also helping deal with stress from winning and losing matches and helping rebound quickly from difficult encounters when necessary.
One way to develop this focus is through practice and training, aiming to attain a good mental state before each match. This includes positive thoughts, visualising success and setting realistic goals with which they strive.
One way for players to improve their mental game is through motor imagery training sessions, in which participants visualize each step of a tennis shot before hitting it – an exercise proven effective at improving accuracy and consistency of shot making. Studies have also indicated this form of mental training can boost serving performance.
Athletes must aim to remain properly hydrated both prior to and during competitions, to reduce physiological, thermal, and perceptual loads associated with tournaments. Studies have revealed that undertaking tennis matches while in an optimal hydration state and standardising sodium intake reduces urine osmolality levels, sweat losses from fluid and sodium sweat loss and improves groundstroke and serve performance; it also decreases feelings of thirst as well as discomfort associated with gastroesophageal (GI) issues.
3. Increased Concentration
Hydration is vital to tennis players in order to ensure optimal performance and concentration. Due to the intermittent nature of tennis with short bursts of high intensity exercise followed by intermittent rest periods, body temperature regulation can be challenging for tennis athletes. When symptoms of hypohydration such as thirst, RPE or GI discomfort manifest themselves they can significantly diminish concentration and performance; when optimal hydration levels have been reached however this has proven more successful at increasing performance and concentration among tennis athletes.
Tennis players tend to sweat approximately 2.5 L*h-1 during matches. Due to its intermittent nature, it can be challenging to assess their hydration status during changeovers; for this reason, tennis athletes should drink CHO-electrolyte beverages during changeovers that contain at least 20mmol/L sodium in order to minimize fluid loss and facilitate rehydration.
Athletes who consume CHO-electrolyte solutions during changeovers are better at replacing fluids faster than those who drink water alone, since involuntary dehydration may occur from drinking at random (7). Furthermore, drinking these drinks prior to competition has been associated with lower sweat rates and less dehydration than other methods (7).
Tennis athletes are vulnerable to dehydration and electrolyte imbalance during later rounds of tournaments, according to one study. More than half of tennis athletes at four day tournaments had urine specific gravity (USG) readings above 1.025, suggesting they were below their ideal hydration levels for their activity. Athletes can keep an eye on their hydration by measuring the USG during training sessions as well as during matches; then using USG readings during match play as an estimate of fluid losses during competition.
4. Increased Speed
Speed is one of the cornerstones of tennis play and reaching maximum velocity much sooner in this sport than others, due to shorter distances covered. Knowing how hydration and temperature affect this ability to reach this high level of speed is essential knowledge for tennis coaches and practitioners.
Studies exploring the effects of hydration and heat on sprint performance have often demonstrated a detrimental impact, yet one study demonstrated otherwise. Hydration and sodium ingestion positively impacted reactive agility – an ability which more closely resembles tennis match play – as participants improved their capacity to accelerate and change direction more readily. Note however, that this phenomenon only occurred after 20 minutes of effective play under HOT and HYD conditions; additional research should examine what effects longer bouts of training on reactive agility have.
Bergeron et al (1995a) suggest that athletes consume 0.25 L (approximately 8.5 ounces) of water during each changeover to replenish approximately 62.5 percent of hourly fluid losses.
This study’s goal was to investigate the effects of an individualised hydration regimen during match-play tennis in hot environments on thermal, physiological and perceptual responses compared with typical habits of high-level players. It was hypothesized that adopting such a hydration regime – comprising staying well-hydrated during play; minimising body mass losses while standardising sodium intake – would reduce dehydration rates, attenuate heat stress-induced adverse influences on neuromuscular function and physical performance as well as promote an immediate recovery after match-play (24-48 hours after match-play).
5. Reduced Fatigue
Tennis match-play can put a tremendous physical strain on players’ bodies, with fatigue often hindering movement and decision-making throughout matches. Coaches must understand how hydration and temperature management practices can help minimize dehydration, hyperthermia and performance decline risks associated with this sport.
However, most research on hydration and thermoregulation in tennis has focused on continuous aerobic activity rather than its intermittent nature. Most points last less than 10 seconds with rest periods dispersed between work periods – which results in highly variable workload compared with continuous aerobic activity (see Figure below).
Hydration levels of an athlete may also vary depending on his/her postural position during a changeover. When players sit (e.g. during a service break), plasma volume increases relative to standing which could reduce thirst.
As such, further research should explore the effects of fluid intake strategies on thermoregulation and hydration status in tennis players. Further investigation must also focus on finding out whether specific strategies exist that can prevent performance deficits due to hypohydration during matches.
To address this, the current study explored the effects of an individualised hydration regimen on behavioral, perceptual and physiological strain during tennis match-play under heat stress. The results demonstrated that undertaking the match in an optimally hydrated state – by optimizing sodium intake and avoiding large body mass losses during play – reduced thermal, perceptual and physiological strain as well as contributing to greater lower limb strength and physical performance gains. Adding carbohydrate-rich beverages prior to or during match-play can further attenuate such distractions such as RPE or thirst during match play.