Pre- and post-competitive anxiety and match outcome in elite international junior tennis players

Abstract

This study aimed to analyse the impact of match outcome (win or lose) in an elite international tennis competition on pre-competitive anxiety and self-confidence. A cohort of Under-16 elite boys (n = 18), with a mean age of 15.44 (0.616) years and an international competitive experience of 4.44 (1.89) years, which were representing six national teams participated in this cross-sectional study. The assessments took part in a qualifying stage of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Davis Cup competition. During the tournament, participants played the best of three set matches. The Competitive State Anxiety Inventory – 2R (CSAI-2R) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-E) were employed to assess the pre-competitive anxiety before and after the tournament's match. Cognitive and somatic anxiety were slightly higher before than after the matches. No significant differences were found between the pre-and post-match measures. However, significant differences in cognitive anxiety, state anxiety and self-confidence were found when comparing pre-match and post-match values between winners and losers. In this regard, winners showed a significant reduction in state anxiety and cognitive anxiety after the match. According to our results, intervention programmes should incorporate tools that will assist players in their management of anxiety and self-confidence, specifically with those players who lost the match.

Pre and post-competitive anxiety and self-confidence and their relationship with technical-tactical performance in high-level men's padel players

“…Conversely, losing players demonstrated expected increases in anxiety and decreases in self-confidence post-match, potentially due to underperformance and emotional distress. This contrasts with prior research on singles tennis players on official competition (16). Overall, these findings highlight the contrasting impact of victory and defeat, indicating that while winning might not necessarily yield favorable effects, the repercussions of losing could be considerably detrimental to players.…”

“…This could be due to the fact that the increase of self-confidence is linked, among other factors, to positive performance results ( 56 ). In this line, Fuentes-García et al ( 16 ) observed higher post-match self-confidence among winning elite junior tennis players compared to losers.…”

“…The same happened to taekwondo athletes, who also showed higher levels of self-confidence at this stage ( 25 ). However, to the best of our knowledge, there is only one study, in tennis, which distinguishes winning vs. losing players regarding post-competitive anxiety and self-confidence, with the former showing notably reduced cognitive anxiety and elevated self-confidence compared to the latter ( 16 ).…”

“…In this sense, competitive anxiety and self-confidence, specially prior to competition, has been extensively studied in recent decades (15)(16)(17). Research has shown that athletes with elevated anxiety levels often demonstrate poorer performance in competitions in comparison to those with lower anxiety levels (18-20).…”

Descriptive Statistical Analysis of the Coach-Player Relationship with CART-Q and SCI

“…One of the other possible limits is the sensitivity of the measured constructs. Relationships between the players and the coaches and sports self-confidence (mainly in athletes; see [109,111]) have a rather dynamic character, which can be influenced by a number of phenomena from the internal and external environment. In addition, all the analyzed variables are related to performance in some way, and elite athletes who are performance-oriented could respond in the context of the current sport form.…”