This case study aimed to examine the cardiovascular and metabolic demands, and to estimate energy expenditure of an elite women singles player during regular on-court training and matches in tournaments over a competitive phase leading up to a major championship. The player was monitored over a 7-week period on a total of 18 training sessions and 5 matches played in actual competitions. Heart rate was recorded continuously throughout these monitoring sessions to find out the cardiovascular demands of the games as well as to estimate the energy expenditure. Capillary blood samples were taken at the completion of the training sessions as well as matches during the competitions for the evaluation of blood lactate level as a means of metabolic demand. Average competition heart rate was 172 beats.min-1 and for more than 45% of the times at competition the heart rate was maintained at >90% of HRmax. Whereas, training heart rate averaged 142 beats.min-1 and there was only ~1% of total on-court training duration the heart rate was >90% of HRmax. Overall, the cardiovascular demand was approximately 11% higher during the competition when compared to routine on-court training. However, estimated total energy expenditure was higher during the court training sessions as relative to competition. The highest blood lactate level of 8.4 mmol.L-1 and 7.9 mmol.L-1 were observed during the competition matches and routine on-court training sessions, respectively. This implies that metabolic stress of the player during the competition was ~6% higher than during the badminton specific on-court training. Collectively, this case study demonstrates that the cardiovascular strain and metabolic demand of modern elite women singles badminton are highly variable from routine training to top-level competition. Our findings provide the essential information to coaches for the planning and monitoring of training in modern women badminton, as well as player`s preparation for major competitions.
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