Effects of On-Court Tennis Training Combined with HIIT versus RST on Aerobic Capacity, Speed, Agility, Jumping Ability, and Internal Loads in Young Tennis Players
Question
How do on-court tennis training combined with running HIIT and on-court tennis training combined with repeated-sprint training affect aerobic capacity, speed, agility, jumping, repeated-sprint performance, internal load, and enjoyment?
Summary
In 13- to 14-year-old male tennis players, both on-court tennis plus HIIT and on-court tennis plus repeated-sprint training improved performance over 6 weeks. HIIT was more clearly associated with aerobic capacity gains, while repeated-sprint training produced larger speed, agility, and repeated-sprint improvements and was rated as more enjoyable.
Methodology
- Young male competitive tennis players
- 24 participants.
- Tennis drills followed by running HIIT on a 400-m track.
- Work intervals: 30-60 seconds.
- Recovery: 30-60 seconds passive rest, 90 seconds between sets.
- Intensity: All players exceeded 85% HRmax during HIIT.
- About 60-80 minutes total; HIIT/RST block 8-20 minutes.
- 3 sessions per week.
- 6 weeks.
- Randomized parallel training study
- Aerobic capacity, Speed and agility, Repeated sprint ability, and Internal load and enjoyment were tracked.
Outcomes
VO2max
Aerobic capacity improved over time, with the HIIT group showing the clearest within-group increase.
Time effect F=740.215, p<0.001, eta squared=0.97; VO2max was reported as the only variable significantly increased in the OTT+HIIT group.
Sprint agility
Repeated-sprint training produced greater speed, agility, and repeated-sprint improvements than HIIT.
Group effects for 5 m sprint p=0.044, RSA mean p=0.021, and T-drill p=0.048; time x group interactions favored RST for several performance measures.
Enjoyment
The repeated-sprint group reported higher enjoyment and lower exertion than the HIIT group.
PACES group effect p<0.001, eta squared=0.89; RPE group effect p<0.001, eta squared=0.63.
Insights
- Youth tennis HIIT can be embedded after tennis-specific on-court drills.
- Repeated-sprint formats may better match tennis movement and may be more enjoyable than longer running intervals.
- Short running HIIT blocks may still be useful when the target is aerobic capacity.
Limitations
- Only 13-14-year-old male tennis players were studied.
- Small sample.
- No explicit adverse-event reporting was found in the NXML.
- Internal-load reporting contained some ambiguity across abstract, results, and discussion.
Safety
- No explicit adverse-event or dropout details were identified in the NXML sections reviewed.