RELATION BETWEEN TWO AEROBIC
CAPACITY TESTS AND COMPETITIVE
SUCCESSFULNESS OF JUNIOR TENNIS
PLAYERS
POVEZAVA MED DVEMA TESTOMA
AEROBNIH KAPACITET IN TEKMOVALNO
USPEŠNOSTJO MLADIH TENIŠKIH IGRALCEV
Aleš Filipčič
1
Srečo Završki
2
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Filipčič, A., & Završki, S. (2002). Relation between two aerobic capacity tests and competitive successfulness… KinSI 8(1), 5–9
Abstract
A sample of 42 tennis players, between 12 and 14
years of age, performed a laboratory test on a
treadmill and a running test on an athletic track.
Both were used to measure aerobic capacity of the
subjects. Two predictive variables were chosen ma-
ximal O
2
consumption, running test on 2400 m and
a criterion variable – competitive successfulness.
The correlation between the predictive variables
and competitive successfulness was analysed with
the Pearson correlation coefficient. The results
show that the correlation of competitive successful-
ness with running endurance and aerobic power is
weak, but statistically significant. 
Keywords: tennis, endurance, competitive success-
fulness, correlation
Contact address
1
Aleš Filipčič
University of Ljubljana – Faculty of Sport
Gortanova 22
SI-1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia
Phone: +386 1 520-77-00
Fax: + 386 1 520-77-50
E-mail: Ales.Filipcic@sp.uni-lj.si
2
(High School Jurij Vega, Idrija)
Izvleček
Na vzorcu 42 teniških igralcev, starih od 12 do 14
let, sta bila opravljena laboratorijski test na tekoči
preprogi ter tekaški test na atletski stezi. Z obema
smo želeli izmeriti aerobne kapacitete merjencev
in ugotoviti kakšna je možnost napovedovanja tek-
movalne uspešnosti ob pomoči obeh testov. Izbra-
li smo dve napovedni spremenljivki – maksimalna
poraba kisika, tekaški test na 2400 m in eno krite-
rijsko spremenljivko (tekmovalna uspešnost). Pove-
zanost med izbranima spremenljivkama in tekmo-
valno uspešnostjo v tenisu je bila analizirana s
Pearsonovim korelacijskim koeficientom. Rezultati
kažejo, da so povezave med tekmovalno uspe-
šnostjo in tekaško vzdržljivostjo ter aerobno moč-
jo šibko izražene, vendar statistično značilne. Niz-
ka in statistično neznačilna povezanost se kaže
med obema napovednima spremenljivkama. 
Ključne besede: tenis, vzdržljivost, tekmovalna us-
pešnost, povezanost
(Received: 18. 08. 1999 – Accepted: 18. 04. 2002)

Introduction
Body movement during a tennis game is determi-
ned by the volume, intensity and player’s tactics.
The amount of work is determined by the length of
a match, the number of performed shots, the num-
ber of played points, games and sets, and the total
distance the player covers on the court during a
match. The intensity depends primarily on playing
surface and the velocity of the ball in flight – which
affects the frequency of shots – and on the breaks
between the individual points, games and sets. In
the game, various modes of movement occur: run-
ning forward, backward, running sideways with
stepping across and with forward paces, fast starts,
various types of jumps and turning movements, as
well as sliding and falling (Filipčič, 1990).
Measurements of metabolism in tennis point more
to an anaerobic–alactate and lactate consumption
of energy; however, it is necessary to emphasise
that tennis matches can last several hours, which
means that due to the limited processes, the mode
of energy consumption during the game varies. A
top tennis player must therefore have well develo-
ped both anaerobic and aerobic energy mecha-
nisms. In the active part of the tennis game the en-
ergy processes are mainly anaerobic. The results
obtained in the tests carried out by German experts
have shown that the values of the measured lacta-
tes for tennis players during the game are in the
range between 3 and 12 mmol/l (Weber, 1989).
The values of lactate are slightly higher in playing
on fast courts, where movements and activities of
tennis players are of very high intensity and short
duration.
The functional dimension occurring in a tennis
match can be defined in terms of the distribution of
time between play and breaks, and in the intensity
of the activity itself. The measurements of time pa-
rameters have shown that the effective part of the
game represents 20 – 30 % of the total duration of
the tennis match on slow surfaces, while on faster
surfaces the percentage of the play is even lower.
A point on a clay court lasts on an average from 6
to 8 seconds, while on grass and fast surfaces the
average duration of a point is from 4 to 6 seconds.
Tennis players exchange the ball on an average 2.9
times in this time. The remaining time is used for
changing sides, interruptions and for resting
(Schönborn, 1999).
Maximal aerobic processes occur in a tennis match
to a smaller extent. It is typical for these processes
to take place in the presence of oxygen and be li-
mited in time. Although maximal activation of ae-
robic processes in tennis is not necessary, these
processes are very important for the development
of the tennis contest and for the training process
of tennis players, and above all, for younger tennis
players, where the intensity of the tennis game is lo-
wer. Aerobic processes find full expression espe-
cially in very long – several hours – lasting matc-
hes. Known data on Dutch players, shows that the
optimal value of VO
2
max for top male adult players
is between 63 and 67 ml/kg/min, and for female
players between 53 and 57 ml/kg/min. Alongside
these values, they also found that at this level, furt-
her development of aerobic capacities can reflect
negatively on abilities, where speed is important
(Pluim, 2000). 
In the current study we were interested to assess
the possibility of predicting competitive successful-
ness with a laboratory test on a treadmill and a
2400 m running test on an athletic track. Maximal
aerobic power namely tells us about the capacity of
the aerobic energy processes, while running endu-
rance is a specific psychomotor ability. We namely
wished to find out if the duration of a tennis match,
which can last for quite a while, is correlated with
the running endurance of a young tennis player.
The existence of such a relation would namely lead
to a conclusion that endurance in tennis can be im-
proved with exercise, where running has a relati-
vely large role. This interest was entirely practical,
namely, which one of these two procedures to use
for monitoring athletes’ state of preparedness in
the specified field.
Methods
Subjects 
The sample of subjects consisted of 42 active ten-
nis players in the category of boys, 12 to 14 years
of age. The study covered only the players fulfilling
the following conditions:
• that they were ranked on the scale of the Tennis
Association of Slovenia in the category of boys
up to the age of 14;
• that they were included in the process of regular
training;
• that they completed the test relevant to the re-
search.
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Filipčič, A., & Završki, S. (2002). Relation between two aerobic capacity tests and competitive successfulness… KinSI 8(1), 5–9

Procedures
The measurements lasted two days. On the first day
the subjects completed the treadmill test, on the
second day the test at the track.
The functional test was carried out on a treadmill
(Woodway) for analysing the cardio-respiratory, er-
go-spirometric and metabolic parameters (Oxycon
Beta).
Description of the test: The subject begins the run
at a speed of 6 km/h. The first four minutes he runs
at this speed. After running for four minutes, the
speed is increased to 9 km/h. The subject then runs
four minutes at this speed. After running for four
minutes, the slope of the treadmill is increased by
5 degrees, and the speed decreases to 8 km/h. The
speed of the treadmill increases in the continuation
of the test by 1 km/h per minute. The measured
subject perseveres in carrying out the test up to the
level of his maximal abilities.
In setting up the protocol of the tests, the standards
recommended by American College of Sports Me-
dicine (Lea & Febiger, 1986) have been observed.
maximal O
2
consumption (ml/min), in the RT2400
(running test 2400 m) the result was the time (se-
conds) in which the subjects covered the 2400 m
distance.
Criterion Variable
In defining the criterion variable we have taken in-
to account all competitions of boys up to 14 years
of age, which took place in the period of one com-
petitive season (the last 52 weeks). The players had
different numbers of tournaments, so we selected
the most suitable criterion variable CS (competiti-
ve successfulness), which determines the relations-
hip between the number of the collected points in
tournaments and the number of tournaments pla-
yed. Since certain departures from linearity were
observed, we used the logarithm of the criterion to
linearise the association between the predictors
and the criterion.
Data analysis
The collected data was processed by means of the
SPSS program package for Windows (Release
11.0). To establish the influence of predictor variab-
les on competitive successfulness, descriptive sta-
tistics and Pearson product-moment correlation
were used.
Results
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Filipčič, A., & Završki, S. (2002). Relation between two aerobic capacity tests and competitive successfulness… KinSI 8(1), 5–9
Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Skewness Kurtosis Kolmogorov– Sig.
Smirnov Test
VO
2
max 1475 3885 2530.00 611.21 .328 -.424 .993 .135
RT 2400 532 868 640.61 68.10 1.331 2.971 .135 .993
CS -3.51 3.18 -.6312 1.89765 .024 -1.203 .668 .668
Table 1: Descriptive Statistics
Table 2: Correlations between predictor variables
and criterion variable
CS VO
2
max
CS Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
VO
2
max Pearson Correlation .519
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
RT 2400 Pearson Correlation –.429 –.104
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .513
The running test was performed on an athletic track.
The subjects covered a 2400 m distance. They ran
in groups of 10.
Variables
Two assessments of aerobic capacity were chosen.
In the treadmill test we decided on the VO
2
max –
General characteristics of the subject sample
Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
Age /years/ 12 14 13.77 0.83
In training /years/ 1 7 4.15 1.62
Height /cm/ 139.9 184.5 159.829 9.942
Weight /kg/ 32.0 70.6 47.456 9.505

We were interested in this research in the relations-
hip between aerobic power and running enduran-
ce in tennis, when played by young athletes. Table
1 shows the basic statistical parameters. The values
of Kolmogorov-Smirnov test show a normal distri-
bution of the results in all three used variables.
The correlations between the variables (Table 2)
show a medium high and statistically significant as-
sociation between CS, VO
2
max and RT2400. The
variable VO
2
max has a somewhat higher correla-
tion with the criterion.
Discussion
If we inspect the correlation of both predictor va-
riables with the criterion also graphically we can
conclude that the correlation between VO
2
max
and CS (Fig. 1) is weak, even if statistically signifi-
cant, as can be seen from the great dispersion of
the results at the individual values of competitive
successfulness.
The correlation between RT2400 and CS (Fig. 2) is
weak, negative, but logically positive and statisti-
cally significant. It would be very difficult to claim
that there is any sort of dependence, leading to a
conclusion that CS might be in any way dependent
on running endurance. This leads us to the conclu-
sion that CS depends more on other factors, which
were not analysed in this research.
The correlation between VO
2
max and RT2400 (Fig.
3) is weak (-.104), negative, but logically positive
and statistically non-significant. This is because
young tennis players are not runners, are not moti-
vated for running, therefore their results do not ex-
press just their aerobic capacity, but include also
their (non)motivation for running.
All this leads us to conclude that the correlation of
both variables (RT2400 and VO
2
max) with the cri-
terion variable (SC) is statistically significant, but
weak (Fig. 1 and 2). The lowest correlation is bet-
ween the two predictor variables. Competitive suc-
cessfulness is therefore less dependent on aerobic
power and running endurance and more on fac-
tors, which were not dealt with in this study.
The analysis of the association of both predictor va-
riables with the criterion showed that it is not pos-
sible to predict competitive successfulness of
young tennis players well enough with these two
tests of aerobic capacity, which was also the reason
8
Filipčič, A., & Završki, S. (2002). Relation between two aerobic capacity tests and competitive successfulness… KinSI 8(1), 5–9
Fig. 1: Correlation between VO
2
max and CS
Fig. 2: Correlation between RT2400 and CS
Fig. 3: Correlation between RT2400 and VO
2
max

why multiple regression analysis was not perfor-
med. The reasons for the rather low predictive po-
wer lie probably in the characteristics of the used
subject sample and the characteristics of tennis and
the factors, which are important determinants of
success in tennis. It is possible that the analysed
sample of young tennis players is inappropriate
from the age point of view, too small and hetero-
geneous. The main reasons for the weak correla-
tion probably lie with the bad aerobic power of
young tennis players. Competitive successfulness
does not have a marked association with aerobic
power or running endurance, which can lead us to
conclude that some other kind of endurance is
more important already for the younger categories
of tennis players. Recent analyses of duration of
points in matches of elite tennis players on surfaces
of medium speed show that 86% of the points are
shorter than 10 s in duration and 14% of the points
last from 10 to 25 s (Schönborn, 1999). In light of
this data on elite tennis players, we can conclude
with high certainty that anaerobic endurance has
an important role already for young tennis players.
It is therefore necessary to determine precisely the
optimal level of development of aerobic enduran-
ce, which would enable the players to overcome
the workloads of longer duration in the training
process and competitions. 
It would probably be useful in future to try two
things: repeat both measurement procedures on a
larger sample of adult tennis players and perform a
similar study in the field of anaerobic endurance of
tennis players.
References
1. Filipčič, A. (1990). Oris problematike razvijanja vzdržljivosti teniških
igralcev [An Outline of the Problems Related to the Development
of Endurance in Tennis Players]. Ljubljana: Fakulteta za šport.
2. Lea, A., & Febiger, B. (1986). Guidelines for Exercise Testing and
Prescription (3
rd
Ed.). Indianapolis: ACSM (American College of
Sports Medicine).
3. Pluim, B. M. (2000). Exercise Physiology. Amsterdam: Royal Net-
herlands Lawn Tennis Association.
4. Schönborn, R. (1999). Advanced Techniques for Competitive Ten-
nis. Aachen: Meyer und Meyer Sport.
5. Weber, K. (1989). Theory and practise of tennis-specific enduran-
ce. ITF Coaches Review, 1 (5), 7-14.
9
Filipčič, A., & Završki, S. (2002). Relation between two aerobic capacity tests and competitive successfulness… KinSI 8(1), 5–9