Title: A COMPARISION OF PERFORMANCE VARIABLES BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE DIVISION I TENNIS PLAYERS
Abstract: Physiological measures are used to determine fitness levels, physiological characteristics, endurance levels, and prediction of performance in sports. PURPOSE The purpose of this study is to compare performance measures between genders in Division I tennis players. METHODS Fourteen (N = 14) Division I tennis players acted as subjects, subcategorized by gender (male n = 8, female n = 6). Subjects were tested on the treadmill, utilizing the Bruce protocol until volitional fatigue. The Wingate 30 second power test was completed to determine peak and average power output. The following measures were analyzed between genders: gas VO2max,(l*min−1), VO2max(ml*kg−1*min−1), heart rate threshold (HRT in bpm), HRT(at%VO2max), ventilatory threshold (VT in l*min−1), VT (at%VO2max), peak power (watts) and average power (watts). Statistical analysis included descriptive measures of mean (SD) and t-Test for gender differences. Significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. RESULTS Significant differences were found in the following measures between males and females, respectively: VO2max(l*min−1)5.63(.44),3.56(.73); VO2max(ml*kg−1*min−1)70.95(6.06),59.71(7.55); HRT(bpm)180.8(6.30),158(21.73); VT(l*min−1),48.45(5.6),37.51(4.1); Peak Power(watts)984.3(120.1),624(132.6); Average Power(watts)789.9(77.1),481.3(61.1) CONCLUSIONS Male Division I tennis players differed significantly from their female counterparts in measures utilizing absolute values. However HRT and VT as expressions of percent VO2max were not different between genders.