Nonautomated pre-performance routine in tennis: An intervention study

This study aimed to investigate the effects of a non-automated pre-performance routine (PPR) on tennis serving performance in a high-pressure situation. Twenty-nine tennis players performed 35 second serves in a low- and high-pressure condition in a pre- and post-test design. The intervention group learned a non-automated PPR for four weeks, while the control group received no intervention. Increases in subjective (i.e., visual analogue scale), but not objective (i.e., cortisol), levels of stress were detected in the high-pressure conditions from pre- to post-test in both groups. Furthermore, the intervention group showed a significant decrease in performance in the high-pressure condition in the pre-test (p = .005), but not post-test performance (p = .161). Our findings indicate that athletes who experience a drop in performance in high-pressure situations may benefit from four weeks of non-automated PPR training to alleviate decreases in performance under pressure.