Musculoskeletal Injuries and Illness in Professional British Tennis Players: An Injury Surveillance Study

Background Participation in tennis at elite levels comes with risk of health problems due to the high training volumes and physical demands of the sport. Injury surveillance is key to providing best practice athlete care in high performance sport. Minimizing time lost from training and competition due to illness or injury is the priority for professional tennis players and their performance teams. There is a gap in tennis literature investigating injury prevalence in professional tennis players. Purpose The primary aim of this study was to describe the incidence and prevalence of health conditions in elite tennis players over a full competition year. The injury and illness time loss and time modified from participation within British tennis players will provide baseline data for injury prevention programs and help to describe injury trends. It may also inform the design of injury mitigation measures. Study Design Descriptive, Retrospective cohort Methods Professional tennis players who were supported by a Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) Support Programme were eligible for the study. The study was undertaken between the 1st January 2023 and 31st December 2023. The study was a retrospective analysis from the injuries and illnesses documented in the weekly meeting of LTA medical and physiotherapy staff as well as using each player’s electronic medical records using the computer notes program Sports Office. The injury region and number of days lost and modified from training and competition was extracted from the records and then used to calculate the incidence, prevalence and severity of the injuries. Results Thirty-three players (16 male and 17 female) were included in the study. The age range of these players was between 14 and 37 years (25.8+/-1.41years; males 27.1+/-1.42, females 24.3, SD+/-2.12). There were 109 injuries in total reported during the surveillance period. The overall incidence of injury and illness was found to be 3.3 per 365 days, 2.1 in males, and 4.4 in females. Medical illness had the highest overall incidence (0.5 per 365 days) followed by the wrist (0.5) and shoulder (0.4). In male players the highest incidence by body region was the wrist compared to the shoulder in the female players, The wrist had the highest prevalence overall (4.2%), and was 4.6% for female players, while the the highest prevalence in male players was both ankle and wrist (3.8%). The ankle had the highest overall mean severity with 45.8 days per injury, followed by the lower leg (31.7 days) and wrist (31.7 overall). In males the ankle region had the highest injury severity in contrast to the lower leg in female players. Conclusions The results of this study describe the incidence and prevalence of health conditions in elite tennis players over a full competition year. Overall medical illness had the highest incidence, the wrist had the highest prevalence, and the ankle had the highest severity in this cohort of professional tennis players. This research provides a valuable insight into injury profiles in professional tennis players helping to inform players, coaches, physiotherapists and medical professionals working in tennis. Level of Evidence 3