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An examination of the importance of performances in youth and junior competition as an indicator of later success in tennis

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  • Brouwers, Jessie
  • De Bosscher, Veerle
  • Sotiriadou, Popi

Abstract

Talent identification at a young age is deemed essential for many national sporting organisations to increase the chances of success for their players on the international stage. Talent identification methods can be imprecise and national tennis associations and coaches often identify talent based on performances at youth tournaments and junior rankings. However, not much is known about the relationship between the international competition performances of young tennis players and later success. This relationship is explored in this study using comparisons based on: (a) the results of 3521 players at U14 youth tournaments; (b) the rankings of 377 junior players (U18) by the International Tennis Federation; (c) the rankings of 727 professional male players by the Association of Tennis Professionals; and (d) the rankings of 779 professional players by the Women's Tennis Association. Junior performances (U18) and performances at youth tournaments (U14) appear to have a low success rate in predicting later success. No distinct age was found at which players should start to perform in order to be successful at the professional level. It is concluded that even though good performances at young ages increase athletes’ chances to become elite players, they are not a precondition for achieving later success. Therefore, this study informs talent scouts, sport development officers, coaches and high performance managers of the role that performances at international youth competitions may play in talent identification in tennis.

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  • Brouwers, Jessie & De Bosscher, Veerle & Sotiriadou, Popi, 2012. "An examination of the importance of performances in youth and junior competition as an indicator of later success in tennis," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 461-475.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:spomar:v:15:y:2012:i:4:p:461-475
    DOI: 10.1016/j.smr.2012.05.002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sotiriadou, Kalliopi (Popi) & Shilbury, David, 2009. "Australian Elite Athlete Development: An Organisational Perspective," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 137-148, August.
    2. Shilbury, David & Popi Sotiriadou, Kalliopi & Christine Green, B., 2008. "Sport Development. Systems, Policies and Pathways: An Introduction to the Special Issue," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 217-223, November.
    3. Richard J. Green and Michael G. Pollitt, 2008. "Introduction," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Special I), pages 1-2.
    4. Kalliopi (Popi) Sotiriadou & David Shilbury, 2009. "Australian Elite Athlete Development: An Organisational Perspective," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 137-148, July.
    5. David Shilbury & Kalliopi Popi Sotiriadou & B. Christine Green, 2008. "Sport Development. Systems, Policies and Pathways: An Introduction to the Special Issue," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 217-223, September.
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    2. Irene R Faber & Marije T Elferink-Gemser & Niels R Faber & Frits G J Oosterveld & Maria W G Nijhuis-Van der Sanden, 2016. "Can Perceptuo-Motor Skills Assessment Outcomes in Young Table Tennis Players (7–11 years) Predict Future Competition Participation and Performance? An Observational Prospective Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(2), pages 1-13, February.
    3. Grove, Wayne A. & Jetter, Michael & Papps, Kerry L., 2018. "Career Lotto: Labor Supply in Winner-Take-All Markets," IZA Discussion Papers 12012, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Grove, Wayne A. & Jetter, Michael, 2014. "The Superstar Quest: Does Youth Talent Predict Professional Success for Female and Male Tennis Players?," IZA Discussion Papers 8103, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Pablo Luna-Villouta & Marcelo Paredes-Arias & Carol Flores-Rivera & Claudio Hernández-Mosqueira & Ricardo Souza de Carvalho & César Faúndez-Casanova & Jaime Vásquez-Gómez & Rodrigo Vargas-Vitoria, 2021. "Anthropometric Characterization and Physical Performance by Age and Biological Maturation in Young Tennis Players," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-12, October.
    6. Beata Pluta & Szymon Galas & Magdalena Krzykała & Marcin Andrzejewski, 2020. "The Motor and Leisure Time Conditioning of Young Table Tennis Players’ Physical Fitness," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-14, August.
    7. José Bonal & Sergio Lorenzo Jiménez & Alberto Lorenzo, 2020. "The Talent Development Pathway for Elite Basketball Players in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-21, July.
    8. Barth, Michael & Emrich, Eike & Daumann, Frank, 2017. "Evaluation of sporting success in Austria: An institutional economics analysis," Working Papers of the European Institute for Socioeconomics 20, European Institute for Socioeconomics (EIS), Saarbrücken.
    9. Halkos, George & Tzeremes, Nickolaos, 2012. "Evaluating professional tennis players’ career performance: A Data Envelopment Analysis approach," MPRA Paper 41516, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Grove, Wayne A. & Jetter, Michael & Papps, Kerry L., 2021. "Career lotto? Labor supply in a superstar market," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 362-376.

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