Abstract des Autors

Body mass (BM), maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) and oxygen uptake at anaerobic threshold (VO2-AT) during running on a treadmill, maximal running speed (Vmax) and speed of running at anaerobic threshold (V-AT), running economy (RE), maximal heart rate (HRmax), and blood lactate concentration (LA) following the exercise were evaluated in seventy-two elite Polish male and female tennis players subdivided into 6 age groups, beginning from the 12 to 13 year- to the 18 to 24 year-olds (mean age 19.8 years). The results indicate that the BM, VO2max (expressed in l/min), Vmax, LA, and, to a lesser extent, V-AT values increase with age. The highest means of these parameters were detected in the oldest age group (OLD) and equaled in males to 75.0+/-8.7 kg, 4.6+/-0.3 l/min, 18.2+/-0.5 km/h, 10.1+/-2.1 mmol/l, and 14.0+/-1.4 km/h, respectively, and in females to 64.4+/-6.6 kg, 3.6+/-0.3 l/min, 16.0+/-1.2 km/h, 10.2+/-2.6 mmol/l, and 12.6+/-1.2 km/h, respectively. Mean HRmax and RE values decreased with age and were equal in the OLD groups to 197+/-9 beats per min and 215+/-11 O2ml/kg/km, respectively, in males, and to 190+/-11 beats per min and 220+/-18 O2ml/kg/km, respectively, in females. Mean VO2max and VO2-AT values calculated per kg body mass did not change with age and in the OLD groups equaled to 62.3+/-4.8 and 50.1+/-5.2 ml/kg/min, respectively, in males, and to 55.8+/-3.3 and 46.0+/-3.9 ml/kg/min, respectively, in females. The tested tennis players exhibited very high VO2-AT (in per cent VO2max) values which ranged from 80.2 to 91.0% in males and from 77.8 to 84.5% in females. Overall, the obtained results demonstrate the relatively good physical fitness of the top Polish male and female tennis players, very high values of VO2-AT expressed in per cent VO2max, elevation with age of the absolute VO2max value in male and female players from the youngest to the oldest age groups, and stabilisation of VO2max related to the body mass in both the male and female subjects. Verf.-Referat