Urine catecholamine concentrations and psychophysical stress in elite tennis under practice and tournament conditions

Background. The purpose of the study was to specify and define the differen ces of psychophysical stress in elite tennis players under practice and tou rnament conditions. Methods. Basal, pre- and postcompetition urine samples of 26 nationally ran ked players (NR) were analysed for concentrations of epinephrine (EPI) and norepinephrine (NE) under practice (P) and tournament conditions (T). Resul ts were completed by the values obtained from two internationally ranked pl ayers (IR) competing in 6 (player A) and 5 (player B) Davis-Cup matches, re spectively. Results. In NR, pre- and postcompetition concentrations for EPI were signif icantly higher under tournament conditions (T: 1.33 +/-0.65 and 3.66 +/-2.5 1 mug/100 mg creatinine vs P: 0.61 +/-0.39 and 0.97 +/-0.59 mug/100 mg crea tinine). The NE/EPI ratio showed significantly inverse results (T: 3.53 +/- 1.87 and 3.58 +/-1.59 vs P: 8.08 +/-6.99 and 10.03 +/-6.58), whereas the co ncentration of NE did not differ between the two conditions. Significant co rrelations were found between the level of perceived nervousness (ten-point -likert scale) and the postcompetition concentration of EPI (r=0.491, p<0.0 5) and the NE/EPI ratio (r=-0.595, p<less than>0.01). Players who felt affe cted by nervousness in their performance outcome showed significantly lower NE/EPI ratios (2.73 +/-1.44 vs 4.49 +/-2.54, p <0.05). The Davis-Cup-Playe rs showed intra-individually constant but inter-individually different conc entrations of EPI (A= 2.2 +/-0.5 vs B= 7.0 +/-0.8 mug/100 mg creatinine), N E (A= 7.4 +/-2.2 vs B= 15.5 +/-3.2 mug/100 mg creatinine) and the ratio of NE/EPI (A= 3.7 +/-2.2 vs B= 2.2 +/-0.7). Conclusions. In tennis tournaments, sympathetic activity is increased due t o a higher psychological stress which may impair performance. Practical eff orts should focus on psycho-regulative methods and psychophysical regenerat ion for players dealing with a chronic sympathetic hyper-activation.