PMID 39160251

Research
All papers

Effects of low-volume court-based sprint interval training on anaerobic capacity and sport-specific performance in competitive tennis players

Zhao D, Liu H, Yang W, Ho IMK, Poon ET, Su Y, Guo Y, Huang Y, Li Q

Question

Does low-volume court-based sprint interval training improve anaerobic capacity and tennis-specific repeated-sprint/intermittent performance compared with endurance treadmill running in competitive tennis players?

Summary

Six weeks of low-volume court-based sprint interval training improved anaerobic average power, Yo-Yo intermittent recovery performance, and repeated-sprint tennis performance in competitive male collegiate tennis players. Continuous endurance running accumulated much more training load and duration but did not show the same tennis-specific improvements.

Methodology

  • Twenty-four competitive collegiate male tennis players with at least 4 years of systematic tennis training, no recent severe injury, and about 20 h/week regular training.
  • 24 participants.
  • Tennis-court shuttle sprinting with changes of direction.
  • Work intervals: 110 m repeated forward/backward sprint pattern over 5-20 m segments.
  • Recovery: 20 s between sprints and 5 min between sets.
  • Intensity: Maximal sprint effort with HR and blood lactate monitoring.
  • Low-volume sprint session; total sprint distance 990 m/session excluding rests.
  • 3 sessions/week.
  • 6 weeks.
  • Randomized controlled 6-week pre/post training study
  • Wingate peak power, average power, fatigue index, and time to peak, Blood lactate elimination rate, Tennis-specific repeated-sprint ability, and Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test level 2 were tracked.

Outcomes

Anaerobic power

Wingate average power improved significantly in the SIT group, with a significant group-by-time interaction; endurance training did not show the same change.

Improved

Intermittent endurance

Yo-Yo IR2 distance increased about 7.8% after SIT and did not significantly improve after endurance training.

Improved

Repeated sprint

SIT reduced repeated-sprint mean and total times; best time and percent decrement were not significantly changed.

Mixed

Training load

Endurance running produced much higher total TRIMP, while SIT produced more time and load in the 90-100% HRmax zone.

Mixed

Insights

  • Tennis-specific sprint intervals can target high HR zones with far less total duration than continuous endurance running.
  • Short sport-specific shuttle patterns may transfer better to repeated-sprint tennis performance than treadmill endurance work.
  • Court-based HIIT should be matched to sport movement demands when the target is sport-specific performance.

Limitations

  • Small sample.
  • Male collegiate competitive tennis players only.
  • Six-week preparatory-season block only.
  • The study did not test variations in sprint length or number.
  • No long-term competition outcomes were reported.

Safety

  • No adverse events were reported; eligibility excluded severe recent injuries.