Effect of practice hours on elite junior tennis players’ burnout: Gender differences

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of training hours on elite junior tennis players’ burnout with attention to gender differences. A quantitative cross-sectional design was used in this research. A sample of 70 junior elite Tunisian tennis players (17.01 ± 0.81y) completed a demographic and the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire. Results showed that 64% (n = 45) had a low risk, 14% (n = 10) had a moderate risk, 13% (n = 9) showed a high risk of burnout and 9% (n = 6) had burnout with individual differences. Analysis of variance revealed that players who trained more than 12 h (high volume) reported significantly higher scores of the burnout dimensions: emotional and physical exhaustion (p < 0.001; d = 2.18); sport devaluation (p < 0.001; d = 2.36); reduced sense of accomplishment (p < 0.001; d = 2.27); as well general burnout (p < 0.01; d = 2.69), than players that trained less than 12 h (moderate volume and low volume). The effect of gender was observed in the variables of emotional and physical exhaustion (t = 2.17; p < 0.03), sport devaluation (t = 2.23; p < 0.029), reduced sense of accomplishment (t = 2.58; p < 0.012) and general burnout (t = 2.41; p < 0.019) with female players showing higher scores in all of the burnout dimensions. It was concluded that the high volume of weekly training hours by junior players was associated with higher levels of the general burnout scores and that female players showed higher burnout scores than their male counterparts.

Keywords

Racket sport training volume

Introduction

Elite junior athletes face a variety of chronic stressors which include training for competition, academic demands, injuries, team conflicts, insufficient rest, financial challenges and expectations from society, fans, and family.^1,2 One outcome of ineffective coping with chronic stress is “burnout,”³ which has been observed as an expected outcome among athletes.⁴

Burnout is viewed as a psychophysiological response to exhaustion caused by excessive training and competition.⁵ It is characterized by emotional and physical exhaustion (EPE), sport devaluation (SD), and reduced sense of accomplishment (RSA).^6,7 The feeling of tiredness due to the high demands in sport competition and low personal achievement leads to EPE.⁷ On the other hand, SD is considered as the loss of interest in sports with a progressive desire of withdrawal.⁶ RSA is the lack of success and self-growth in a sports context.⁷ When all or some of these are combined, it may result in a decreased level of performance.⁸

Successful athletes are required to invest hours of intense training to perform effectively under pressure in competition.^9,10 Competitive sports can be stressful, athletes have to deal with acute and chronic stressors resulting from the physical, cognitive and environmental demands. The literature shows that if young athletes cannot cope with these stressors burnout can occur in various sports.^11,12 Tennis was one of the first sports to study the effects of burnout.^13–15 In fact, tennis players are subject to rather vigorous training and competitive schedules throughout their careers due to the unique characteristics of the sport in which losing points and matches is inherent to the game. From the early stages of development, athletes deal with pressure situations if they are to achieve success on the worldwide stage.^16,17 A high performance tennis player is required to train tennis 2–4 h a day 5–6 days a week, during which the training is devoted to flexibility, resistance, speed, agility, and cardiovascular contents as well as to technique, tactics, and mental components.¹⁸ Above all, the player's competitive schedule includes a combination of high-level international, national, and regional tennis tournaments. Like in other sports, the player with the most efficient combination of skills will outperform their opponent, win most matches, and achieve success in the game.¹⁹ Thus, tennis is a sport in which stress and burnout management plays a crucial role in the longevity of both tennis play and competition. The game requires players to frequently adapt to various environmental and social conditions. Unlike other sports, tennis players are restricted from communicating, interacting, or seeking guidance from their coach, family, or friends during competition, further contributing to an increased feeling of stress.²⁰ In the case of tennis, Balaguer et al.²¹ analyzed the interactive effects of the players’ goal orientations and perceptions of the motivational climate on indicators of burnout. These authors found the importance of motivational variables as it correlates to burnout and the relevance of achievement goals in the prevention of burnout in elite young tennis players. Walker²² studied the relationship between burnout and mindfulness among competitive adolescent tennis players and found that mindfulness exhibited significant negative correlations with burnout, emotional/physical exhaustion, RSA and SD.

Poor adaptation to the demands of physical training volume is a critical contributor to the development of burnout.^23–25 Over the past two decades, there has been an increasing concern about the negative implications of burnout among athletes, which has generated many studies in this area.²⁶ A survey of citations of burnout syndrome in the sports context identified more than 100 published studies.²⁷ Several studies have examined the relationship between burnout and different demographic and sport variables such as gender, age, type of sport, training volume, years of participation, volume of competition and regeneration procedures.^4,28–32Gender is the first individual difference that has proven to affect the levels of burnout. Research has found differences with gender, showing that women have the highest values of burnout^33–37 and EPE.³⁸

As per training volume, in contrast to studies that have shown that sport training hours are related to the attainment of better performance in terms of technical, physical, and mental skills,^39–41 this study intends to understand how sport-training hours can lead to burnout and unpack insights into gender differences.

Our study builds upon previous research and adds to the literature by analyzing how training hours could be a variable to players’ burnout.⁴⁰ No previous studies have examined the relationship between those variables in tennis so far, even though, knowing that the amount of training hours is quite demanding for tennis players. Thus, this research aimed to investigate the effect of sport training hours on burnout with consideration to possible gender differences and specifically tested the following hypotheses: (H1) High-Volume training will yield to high scores of the burnout dimensions than all other volumes (Low-Volume, and Medium-Volume), (H2) High-Volume will yield to high scores of the burnout dimensions than Low-Volume, and H3) Female players would be more prone to burnout than their male counterparts. The number of training hours and gender have been chosen as the factors to study in relation to burnout due to the lack of research in tennis.

Method

Participants

The sample was composed of 70 junior elite Tunisian tennis players (43 male and 27 female) aged between 16 and 18 years (17.01 ± 0.81). The participants belonged to two elite tennis centers in which they trained while pursuing their studies. The players in these centers were selected according to technical criteria (i.e. ranking and test results) established by the Tunisian Tennis Federation. They trained between 6 to 20 h per week, an average of 17.15 h per week (SD = 1.9), and they had taken part in tennis competitions for an average of 12.6 years (SD = 0.5). The weekly training program consisted of technical and tactical drills and exercises (i.e. basket, rally, practice matches) as well as physical workouts (on- and off-court). They all had top 100 national age-group rankings (Table 1).

Table 1.

Sample characteristics.

Categories		N	%
Gender	Female	27	38.6
	Male	43	61.4
Age	16 years	24	34.3
	17 years	33	47.1
	18 years	13	18.6
Training hours per week	6–8 h	22	31.4
	8–12 h	28	40
	12–20 h	20	28.6
	Means		SD
Years of participation	12.2		0.77
Years of competition	10.2		0.77

H: hours; N: number; M: mean.

This study was conducted following the declaration of Helsinki and the protocol was approved by the institutional ethics committee and the medical staff of the Tunisian Tennis Federation. After reviewing the consent, all participants and their parents/tutors signed the written consent before data collection.

Procedures

All questionnaires were completed after a training session during face-to–face meetings lead by the researchers. A researcher explained the characteristics of the questionnaires and how to fill them in, then the participants were asked to read the introductory section, before they started. The researcher encouraged participants to ask questions immediately after reading the instructions, and at any time during the session. The questionnaires were handed out to the participants in the following order: (1) Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ) and (2) Demographic Questionnaire. The participants spent between 15 and 20 min completing both sets of questionnaires. All players were in a good health condition, with no injury nor any previous history of pain. At the time of testing the players were in the preparation phase of their annual periodization plan.

Instruments

Individual measures

Individual measures revealed information including age, gender, and experience (years of participation and competition). Like in other studies conducted in sport, the questionnaire used in our research also covered the weekly number of training hours by asking “Approximatively, how many hours do you train per week?”^41,42ABQ (Raedeke & Smith, 2001)

Each athlete's level of burnout was assessed using the ABQ.⁴³ The 15-item self-report assesses the dimensions of physical and emotional exhaustion (e.g. “I feel overly tired from my sport participation”), reduced accomplishment (e.g. “I am not performing up to my ability in sport”), and SD (e.g. “I don't care as much about my sport performance as I used to”). The item for each was “How often do you feel this way?” to which participants respond on a five-point Likert Scale anchored with (1) “Almost Never” and (5) “Almost Always.” The ABQ showed good psychometric properties with internal consistencies (α>0.75) for all three dimensions. It is noted that the assessment of the training load of tennis players lacks the objective measurement of the external training load or the subjective evaluation of the daily training load by the group of tennis coaches.

Statistical analysis

Data expressed as mean and the standard deviation measures of normality were assessed using the Shapiro–Wilk statistic, with normality assumed when p < 0.05. Internal consistency or the extent to which items within the same dimension correlated with each other was measured using the Cronbach alpha and composite reliability. Values of ≥0.7 were considered satisfactory and values of ≥0.8 were considered as having high reliability.⁴⁴ An independent samples t-test was applied to determine the significant differences in all the values of all the scores between groups (females vs. males). Effect size (ES) were calculated for all the comparisons and determined according to Cohen's d and classified as small (0.00 < d < 0.49), medium (0.50 < d < 0.79) and large (d > 0.80).⁴⁵ Internal consistency or the extent to which items within the same dimension correlated with each other was measured using the Cronbach alpha and composite reliability. Values of ≥0.7 were considered satisfactory and values of ≥0.8 were considered as having high reliability.⁴⁴ Additionally, for burnout and its dimensions, the effect of training hours was calculated with one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and post hoc comparisons were calculated using the Tukey-HSD test. For the varying training hours, that is, low volume (LV), moderate volume (MV), and high volume (HV), contrast analyses^46,47 were also carried out to specifically test the following hypotheses: (H1) HV will yield to high scores of the burnout dimensions than all other volumes (LV, and MV), and (H2) HV will yield to high scores of the burnout dimensions than LV. Accordingly, two contrasts were computed. Firstly, the HV versus LV, and MV (coded as −0.667, 0.333, and 0.333, respectively) were compared. The second contrast compared the HV versus the LV (coded as −0.5, and 0.5, respectively). This approach yields a comparison of one (or more) condition(s) versus the grand mean of the specified contrasts.^48,49 For the individual gender scores of (H3), z-scores of the 15 players were calculated. The analysis was carried out using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 20. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.

Results

Reliability statistics

The ABQ demonstrated mean Cronbach alpha values of 0.97. The majority of the dimensions demonstrated coefficients greater than 0.70, which indicated an acceptable level of internal consistency.

Descriptive statistics

Concerning the weekly time devoted to training, 31.42% of players trained tennis between 6 and 8 h, 40% trained between 8 and 12 h, and 28.57% trained between 12 and 20 h. Among all tennis players (70 players), 64% (n = 45) had a low risk of burnout, 14% (n = 10) had a moderate risk, and 13% (n = 9) showed high risk of burnout. Only 9% (n = 6) had signs of burnout. In the 15 tennis players with a high risk of burnout or with signs of burnout, the general mean-score was greater than 4 points. The dimension with the highest score was the EPE (4.57 ± 0.37) followed by the SD (4.46 ± 0.34) and the RSA (4.33 ± 0.45).

Effect of training volume

ANOVA revealed that there were significant differences among tennis players from different groups of tennis training hours on physical and mental exhaustion (F = 159.22; p < 0.001; d = 2.18); SD (F = 186.22; p < 0.001; d = 2.36); RSA (F = 172.96; p < 0.001; d = 2.27), and general burnout (GB) (F = 242.25; p < 0.001; d = 2.69). Tennis players who trained more than 12 h (HV) reported significantly higher scores of the burnout dimensions as well as the GB than the two groups that trained less than 12 h (MV + LV).

In relation to contrast analysis, the specified hypothesis was tested. For H1 (HV vs. MV and LV), the scores of GB and its dimensions, were more important in HV than in MV + LV groups (p < 0.001). (Table 2)

Table 2.

Effect of practice hours on burnout and its dimensions.

	LV-Group (n = 22)	MV-Group (n = 28)	HV-Group (n = 20)	ANOVAp-value (Cohens’d)
EPE	1.75 ± 0.65	3.33 ± 0.39 ^a	4.43 ± 0.4 ^a^,^b	0.01(1.05)
SD	1.6 ± 0.59	3.05 ± 0.41 ^a	4.35 ± 0.36 ^a ^, ^b	0.01(1.06)
RSA	1.42 ± 0.56	2.71 ± 0.46 ^a	4.23 ± 0.43 ^a ^, ^b	0.01(1.09)
GB	1.6 ± 0.57	3.03 ± 0.24 ^a	4.33 ± 0.36 ^a ^, ^b	0.01(1.06)

LV: low volume; MV: moderate volume; HV: high volume; EPE: emotional and physical exhaustion; SD: sport devaluation; RSA: reduced sense of accomplishment; GB: general burnout.

significantly different from LV-Group.

significantly different from MV-Group.

Effect of gender

Results revealed significant differences between mean burnout scores of male and female players for the variables of EPE (t = 2.17; p < 0.03), SD (t = 2.23; p < 0.029), RSA (t = 2.58; p < 0.012), and GB (t = 2.41; p < 0.019). Female tennis players showed stronger scores in all the dimensions even the GB than their male counterparts (Table 3).

Table 3.

Gender.

	Female(n = 27)	Male(n = 43)	Cohen's d	p-value
EPE	3.49 ± 0.88*	2.93 ± 1.27	0.50	0.03
SD	3.33 ± 0.93*	2.74 ± 1.25	0.53	0.03
RSA	3.16 ± 0.96**	2.47 ± 1.26	0.61	0.01
GB	3.33 ± 0.88*	2.72 ± 1.23	0.56	0.02

EPE: emotional and physical exhaustion; SD: sport devaluation; RSA: reduced sense of accomplishment; GB: general burnout.

Values are mean ± SD; significant differences between female and male: * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01.

Individual scores

The individual scores of the 15 players with a high risk of burnout or with signs of burnout are shown in Figure 1A and B. Players from TP1 to TP6 had signs of burnout (Table 4 and Figure 1B) but showed individual differences. TP3 and TP6 had the highest score of the SD contrary to TP4. TP3 and TP6 were two females in the 18-year-old category; both were introduced to tennis at the same age (7 years) and have a high ranking, among the top 100. Both have thought about quitting the sport but have never done it. TP3 had the highest number of career injuries (10) and suffered four injuries in the previous season. TP6 had seven injuries including one in the current season. TP4 showed EPE and RSA scores similar to those of T3 and T6. However, this player had the lowest score for SD. He is an 18-and-under player with 11 years of tennis experience. Players from TP7 to TP15 had a high risk of burnout (Figure 1B), but with individual differences. TP8 and TP12 had the lowest score of SD. They are two males aged 17 and 18 years respectively who trained 15 h per week. These players had the lowest number of injuries compared to others (TP7 to TP15). Contrary to TP8 and TP12, TP9 and TP13 had the highest score of SD. These players were two males who played in the 18-and-under category and who started playing tennis at the same age (11 years). Among the nine players who had the highest risk of burnout, TP15 had the highest score of RSA and SD. This player is a female a 17-year-old female who started playing tennis at five years old and competing at seven years old.

Figure 1.

(A) Scores of burnout dimensions of junior elite tennis players with high risk and burnout. (B) Scores of global burnout of junior elite tennis players with high risk and burnout.

Table 4.

Participant characteristics, sport practice, and current sport training of junior tennis players with burnout.

Tennis players
	TP1	TP2	TP3	TP4	TP5	TP6
Participant's characteristics
Gender	F	F	F	M	F	F
Age	17	18	18	18	17	18
Category	18	18	18	18	18	18
Ranking (regional)	>100	>100	Top100	>100	>100	Top100
Sport practice
Age at initial participation (y)	6	7	7	5	8	7
Duration of playing (y)	11	11	11	13	9	11
Thoughts about dropping out	Y	Y	Y	N	Y	Y
Injuries (n)	5	7	10	3	7	7
Current sport training
Season injuries (n)	1	0	0	0	1	1
Training hours per week (h)	20	19	19	20	18	17

y: years; n: number; h: hours; Y: yes; N: no.

Discussion

High-performance tennis is an individual sport characterized by small training groups, high number of tournaments, and a high amount of training hours. In the present study, players were engaged in elite tennis for almost 12 years and invested in training and competition more than 12 h per week as shown in their training schedules. The aim of this research was to find out whether there were differences in burnout according to the hours of tennis training. Earlier in this article, it had been hypothesized that burnout is associated with a HV of training. A secondary objective was to examine gender differences in burnout since it had been hypothesized that females are more prone to burnout than their male counterparts.

The findings of the present study have shown that 9% of the sample had burnout. This result is in line with the research of Gustafsson et al.⁵⁰ who found that the prevalence of burnout in adolescent competitive athletes is between 1% and 9%. Also, in a sample of Swedish athletes (ages 16–21), Gustafsson et al.²⁶ found high burnout in 2% to 6% of men and 1% to 9% of women. According to several studies^26,43,50 the prevalence of athlete burnout has been challenging to establish but tentative estimates suggest that between 1% and 11% of athletes might be affected with symptoms of burnout and about 1–2% experience symptoms that can be considered as more severe. Studies with Spanish elite taekwondo, weightlifting, handball, and basketball athletes identified burnout in almost 10% of the elite athletes.⁵¹ Our results are also in line with those of Andrade et al.²⁸ who found that 10% of the tennis players in their sample had a moderate risk of burnout, 3.1% had a high risk, and 2.3% showed signs of burnout. Furthermore, our results are lower than those obtained by Peraita et al.⁵² with adolescent non-elite tennis players who found that 55.3% of girls and 16.1% of boys had a high risk of burnout syndrome. But our findings are higher than those of Sánchez et al.⁵¹ who found that 4.8% of the sampled population of elite young tennis players manifested burnout in all its dimensions. Despite the diverse results, science is still far from establishing a parameter that may be used universally to set an incidence percentage of burnout. Thirteen percent had a high risk of burnout, these players should receive special care and attention because they may be suffering from the symptoms and consequences of burnout, like impaired performance, compromised physical and emotional health, and continuity in sport.^{13–15,53,54} These athletes train to their limits, almost every day, in striving to achieve the highest level of performance, and are part of a population that is particularly susceptible to burnout, given the pressure and chronic stress associated with high-performance sports. Within the 13%, EPE and SD dimensions had the highest score, 4.3, and 14% had moderate risk. Even players at moderate risk deserve attention, as they may have experienced burnout previously or may be in a transitional period, since burnout may increase relative to an increase in the duration of training. All dimensions of burnout showed values between 3.6 and 3.8, and the mean of the three burnout dimensions was lower than 3 since EPE = 2.6 ± 0.95; SD = 2.4 ± 0.89; RSA = 2.1 ± 0.82. Results also showed that the percentage of players that had a low risk of burnout was 64%. On the contrary, 15 players showed a high risk of burnout or signs of burnout. The dimension with the highest score was EPE which is characterized by the perceived depletion of emotional and physical resources resulting from training and/or competition (4.57 ± 0.37). Followed by SD which reflects the development of a cynical attitude towards sport participation (4.46 ± 0.34) and a RSA, which is typified by negatively evaluating one's sporting abilities and achievements (4.33 ± 0.45) . In any case, the state of burnout or high risk of burnout is temporary, and if there is no rest or reduction of stress, it will lead to the termination of the sport activities.

According to the first hypothesis, results revealed significant findings regarding tennis training hours. Data analysis showed that tennis players that train more than 12 h/week are more likely to experience burnout. This result is in line with those of previous studies^24,53,55 who showed that the increase in training hours, the more the players are prone to experience burnout. The training demands, operationally defined as training hours in the present study, were related to players’ burnout. One potential explanation of this finding is that athletes perceive the training demands as an accepted/anticipated stressor.⁵⁶ In addition to competition stress, training hours may accumulate to the point that previously manageable training loads exacerbate the players’ feelings of exhaustion and reduce their sense of accomplishment. Our findings were also consistent with some previous research showing a link between inappropriately high training loads and elevated burnout symptoms.⁵⁷ Excessive and rapid increases in training loads at young ages coupled with insufficient recovery have been linked to higher injury rates, burnout and in some cases, premature dropout from sport.^58,59 Our results are similar to those of Sánchez et al. (2014) who found a statistically significant relationship between the time devoted to training and the dimensions of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. A statistically significant negative correlation between the orientation towards the task and the limited personal realization for those tennis players studied was also reported.

In addition to the training load and the intensity of sessions, the overall time spent in the sport may contribute to athlete burnout. Cresswell & Eklund⁵³ in their qualitative analysis of rugby union athletes found that time commitments to the sport and the social pressure of others influence the development of athlete burnout. The increase in SD was significantly more robust for female athletes compared with their male counterparts. This finding could be interpreted either as a favorable or unfavorable outcome for women in elite sports. On the one hand, the substantial increase in SD among females might indicate that they are becoming less willing to maintain their engagement in competitive sport during and beyond adolescence. On the other hand, this finding could reflect an accentuated form of positive self-expansion whereby female athletes are even more likely to explore and incorporate novel social identities (i.e. school, work, friends). However, female athletes may also face stronger comparison and social evaluation regarding appearance and gender roles compared to male athletes, which leads to adverse physical outcomes and unhealthy behavior.^60,61 On the other hand, Holden, Keshock, Forester, Pugh, & Heitman⁶² have found a positive relationship between burnout or its dimensions with training hours but not with the number of years of participation. Therefore, some research findings may be contradictory. Whereas cross-sectional research has failed to find any relationship between training load and burnout,^50,63 findings from qualitative research suggest that a heavy training load and a lack of recovery are important contributors to burnout.⁶⁴ The reason for these contradictions might partly be due to the research designs. The cross-sectional design does not capture the process of burn out. Athletes suffering from burnout might have been practicing more intensively in the past than when the actual data collection was taken.⁵⁰

According to the second hypothesis, results showed that females scored significantly higher than males in all dimensions of burnout. Gender has been studied as an antecedent to burnout in the sporting arena. There have been several studies that have suggested that females are more prone to burnout. Regarding demographic variables, Pedrosa & García-Cueto³¹ observed that women, adult elite athletes, and elite athletes who practiced team sports were more susceptible to burnout. Isoard-Gautheur et al.⁶⁵ also identified a higher burnout rate in female athletes. Regarding gender, only five studies were conducted on female athletes^62,66–69 which indicates the need for additional studies to understand burnout in female athletes. In a sample of 145 Canadian collegiate athletes, Dubuc-Charbonneau, Durand-Bush, & Forneris⁷⁰ found that female athletes reported significantly higher levels of EPE compared to males, with a small to medium ES. The study of Cremades et al.⁷¹ had also reported that female junior tennis players have statistically significantly higher scores than men on the exhaustion and devaluation dimensions of the ABQ. Likewise, Marzooghi, Heidari, & Heidari⁷² found that female national and international athletes in Iran had statistically significant higher scores than males on all three core symptoms of burnout, with medium to large ESs (η 2 = 0.23 for reduced accomplishment, η 2 = 0.17 for exhaustion and η 2 = 0.21 for devaluation). Allegre, Therme, and Griffiths⁷³ found no differences regarding gender. These authors suggested that differences might not have been detected due to the low representation of females in the sample (9%). Continuing with gender differences for burnout, males showed higher percentages for RSA and SD, with no statistically significant differences in EFE, in a study from Casagrande, Andrade, Viana, & Vasconcellos⁷⁴ which corroborated the findings of Costa, Oliveira, Farah, Guimarães, & Santos.⁷⁵ These authors compared the dimensions of burnout to gender in the group of exposed athletes and did not notice differences between the groups. Given such evidence, there seems to be no relationship between burnout and gender, and this result diverges from the perspective that females have more frequent perceptions of the syndrome because they are more emotional and more involved. Thus, females would be more prone to the development of physical and emotional exhaustion.⁷⁶ The absence of gender differences was also observed in beach volleyball athletes.⁷⁷ This coincides with the findings of Goodger et al.⁵⁴ who, after evaluating 27 studies of burnout in athletes of individual and collective sports, did not consider the gender variable as a factor in the perception of the syndrome. Dos Santos, Pires, Vorkapic, & De Andrade Bastos⁷⁷ found no effect of the gender variable on the perception of burnout dimensions among 194 swimmers and volleyball players of both genders, aged 14 to 17 years. These results suggested that men and women can be equally prone to aspects of burnout. In tennis, Peraita et al.⁵² showed that players with moderate/high burnout syndrome risk were more likely to be girls.

Interestingly enough, Casagrande et al.⁷⁸ found burnout differences in 18-and-under tennis players, and indicated that these might reflect the psychological demands that players from this age group should face due to the transition from the junior to the professional circuit. These authors suggested that, to prevent burnout and dropout, coaches should monitor the RSA.

Our findings are also similar to those of Andrade et al.²⁸ who emphasized the complexity of athlete burnout and the fact that, depending on the individual characteristics of the athlete and the sports context, this phenomenon can manifest in different ways.

Limitations and recommendations

As for the study's limitations, it should be considered that the relatively low number of females in the sample makes comparisons among gender difficult. Another limitation is that this study was only conducted with Tunisian tennis players. Thus, cultural differences could have influenced the results of the present study. The fact that the study did not collect data on the actual training load (shot number, calories burned, heart rate…) and degree of recovery or levels of regeneration (heart rate variability) could also be considered a limitation.

Regarding future research directions, since elite training centers are representative of the structure and specialized training regimen adopted by several sport federations across numerous nations, future studies should investigate the development of burnout perceptions of adolescent athletes who do not belong to these specialized training organizations because they might experience different levels of burnout.⁷⁹ Future research is needed to clarify the optimal number of hours that players should devote themselves to mental skills training to help them cope with this scenario. This will help to better understand the balance between training hours needed to prevent burnout and those to achieve the desired results.

Conclusion

The results of this study confirm and strengthen those of previous studies that relate burnout and sport training hours. The current study showed that the HV of training hours undertaken by junior tennis players weekly are related to higher burnout scores. Specifically, and from a practical implication perspective, players of this level training less than 12 h per week, which is a volume already recommended in the literature,⁸⁰ showed lower burnout levels. Finally, exposure to high training loads and other sources of distress are related to negative consequences such as injuries, and burnout symptoms.^30,81 Therefore, coaches and practitioners should take this into account to prevent the prevalence of burnout symptoms among those players that training a high number of hours per week. As a practical application of the study, it is envisaged to apply the findings to the team of experts of both training centers.^82,83

Regarding the effect of gender on the dimensions of burnout, our results revealed that there is a significant difference between men and women in all three dimensions of burnout as well as in the global score of burnout. Females appear to be more vulnerable to burnout than males.

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

The authors thank all the athletes, their parents, and the staff of the institutional ethics committee and the medical staff of the Tunisian Federation of Tennis.

Data availability

The data generated during this study are available on request to the corresponding author.

Ethics statement

The Ethical Committee on Human Research of the University of Manouba, Tunisia, approved the study and it was in accordance with the latest version of the Declaration of Helsinki. The athletes and their parents or legal representative provided written informed consent before participating in this study.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iDs

Mokhtar Chtara

Miguel Crespo

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