INTRODUCTION: Tennis requires a specific preparation of the players in the spirit of their playing style [1]. Four playing styles are distinguished (counterpuncher, aggressive baseliner, serve and volleyer, and all-court player), which are predominantly associated with various technical-tactical elements of an offensive or defensive strategy [2]. Our study aimed to investigate the differences in the running and tennis shot activities between offensive, defensive and mixed playing strategy conditions in elite youth tennis players. METHODS: Six youth male tennis players (age: 15.7 ± 1.0 years; body height: 180.7 ± 6.5 cm; body weight: 71.0 ± 10.8 kg) played simulated matches in four playing conditions (offensive vs. offensive, defensive vs. defensive, offensive vs. defensive, defensive vs. offensive) for 10 minutes each. To determine running activities, one locomotive and five mechanical intensity parameters were measured using portable micro-sensors (Catapult OptimEye S5, Catapult Sports, Melbourne, Australia) at a sampling frequency of 10 Hz for the GPS and 100 Hz for the tri-axial accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer. In addition, we also assessed six tennis shot activity parameters with smart tennis sensors (Zepp Tennis 2 Sensor, Zepp Labs, USA) which we mounted on the end of players` rackets. Differences between the conditions were calculated using the Friedman test and planned Wilcoxon post-hoc tests with Bonferroni correction. The significance level was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: Although the Friedman test showed significant condition effects for six running activity parameters (Total Distance/min, Player Load/min, Acceleration Low/min, Acceleration High/min, Deceleration Low/min, Deceleration High/min) and four tennis shot parameters (Backhand Shot Rate, Forehand Velocity, Forehand Spin, Backhand Spin) post-hoc tests with Bonferroni correction revealed no differences between the different types of game plays (each p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: In the present study, the intensity of the running activities, and the quality and occurrence rate of each tennis shot do not differ markedly between the different strategy conditions. It is possible that the relatively low sample size prevented us from revealing between-condition effects, nevertheless, our preliminary results indicate that tennis players need to train all physical qualities and playing strategies to achieve the best possible performance against the opponent, regardless of his/her playing style choice. In addition to all this, a style of play that best suits the tennis players personality and psycho-physical qualities must be developed by adulthood at the latest.
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