Strength and conditioning appears to be key to winning a modern day grand slam tournament, a new study into the changing shape of elite male tennis players, published in European Journal of Sport Science, has revealed.
The research, carried out by Professor Alan Nevill and Adam Watts from the University of Wolverhampton, shows that elite male tennis players in grand slam tournaments have transformed from lean endurance to power-trained athletes across the space of four decades.
Importantly there has been a significantly steeper rise in BMI (thought to reflect greater muscle mass) of the most successful grand slam tennis players compared with less successful players, meaning that muscularity, strength and power are a crucial factor associated with success in all modern Grand Slam tournaments.
Our research shows that in the 1980s players more likely to be lean and linear, rather than muscular or bulky; these were endurance athletes who relied on skill – for example Bjorn Borg. These days, most elite players have fitness coaches and have become concerned with strength and conditioning to get through to final stages of grand slam tournaments.”
This is because high levels of muscle mass and low levels of body fat afford competitive advantage in terms of the ability to generate greater power behind shots, as well as the potential to generate greater speed and agility around the court.”
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