Decision-making training in tennis: what scientific principles can be applied to training programmes?

Abstract

This paper is a review of the research literature on decision-making in sports, especially tennis. It discusses the theoretical constructs underpinning the different approaches and the most frequently used methodological procedures and their limitations and shows the need for this practice to be based on scientific evidence and the performance of high- level tennis players. Based on the theoretical rationale of ecological dynamics, we put forward a new proposal for decision- making training based on the manipulation of constraints. To wind up, the paper proposes several methodological suggestions to be taken into account in future research in the area of decision-making training in tennis.