Introduction
Tennis match play consists of intense intermittent activity and potentially long duration (i.e. up to 5 h); thus, the magnitude of physiological demands during match play can be considerable. Although, blood lactate concentration ([La]) usually remains lower than 5 mmol
.L
− 1 [
1‐
4] data have reported [La] concentration to reach 7-8 mmol.L
− 1 during match play, which has led to both technical and tactical performance declines [
5]. The rise in [La] is a consequence of the ≈1:2 work-to-rest ratio during a match [
2,
5‐
7]. Correspondingly, HR consistently reaches 60–80% of maximum with absolute values up to 200 bpm [
2] along with VO
2 rising to 60–70% of maximum [
8]. Additionally, the elevation of cortisol [
9] and creatine kinase [
9,
10] following match play signifies both acute stress and muscle damage.
Although various forms of fatigue exist during tennis match play [
11], peripheral fatigue due to diminished ATPase activity compromises muscle contraction capabilities [
12]. Further, debate exists regarding if an increase in H
+ causing metabolic acidosis (i.e. decreased muscle pH) harms [
13,
14], helps [
15], or has a neutral performance effect [
16]. Controversy is also present regarding the influence of the allocation of other ions (Ca
2+, K
+, and CL
−) [
17] in addition to decreased pH on exercise performance. However, in tennis, the muscle damage associated with the intermittent nature of tennis may lead to decreased Ca
2+ release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum negatively affecting force production capabilities, and possibly lead to mistimed strokes [
18]. Therefore, strategies, such as nutritional supplementation, which may delay these mechanism of fatigue during match play warrant investigation.
Specifically, extracellular buffers, sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO
3) and sodium citrate (SC), serve as alkalizing agents and can elicit acute performance benefits in intermittent-type exercise [
8,
17,
19‐
22]. Specifically, data have demonstrated NaHCO
3 to significantly improve exercise performance, which lasts between 1 and 7 min. [
19,
20] and meta-analytics have determined a moderate effect size between NaHCO
3 and acute exercise performance [
21]. Indeed, Wu et al. [
23] demonstrated NaHCO
3 to improve skilled tennis performance following a simulated match, which was associated with increased pH. However, an important limitation of NaHCO
3 supplementation is that ingestion has consistently resulted in gastrointestinal (GI) distress and even vomiting [
24], which may preclude some individuals from experiencing performance benefits [
25]. On the other hand, SC supplementation may provide similar benefits to NaHCO
3 with less GI distress [
26].
Similar to NaHCO
3, SC directly improves extracellular buffering capacity along with indirectly enhancing intramuscular pH conditions via facilitation of H
+ efflux [
22]
. Specifically, SC supplementation causes the negatively charged citrate anion to be ejected from the plasma leading to decreased plasma H
+ along with a concomitant increase in bicarbonate (HCO
3−) [
8], subsequently improving buffering capabilities. Conflicting results exist with SC as 0.5 g
.kg
−1BM (body mass) has been shown to improve anaerobic cycling power [
27] performance [
28], and has enhanced 200 m swim performance [
29]. However, SC failed to improve 5.000 m treadmill running and repeated 60s sprint performance [
30]. A meta-analysis from Carr et al. [
31] revealed an unclear effect for SC to improve exercise performance, however, limited data was available for analysis and confidence limits were wide [
31]. Moreover, Carr et al. [
31] did report that SC provided similar benefits to pre-exercise alkalosis as NaHCO
3 and did note that GI disturbance should be taken into account when considering an alkalizing agent. Despite the potential benefits for SC and tennis performance, to the authors’ knowledge, SC has not yet been examined in this regard.
Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to investigate the effects of SC supplementation (vs. a placebo condition) on specific tennis skill tests in nationally ranked young male tennis players. It was hypothesized that SC would create a condition of metabolic alkalosis; thus, preventing decline in tennis skill performance compared to a condition.
Discussion
The primary aim of the present study was to examine changes in metabolic parameters, tennis skill performance, and the perceptual response following SC supplementation or PLA in nationally ranked young Brazilian tennis players. The main findings of this investigation supported the hypothesis the SC would induce alkalosis and benefit performance. These findings were: 1) All metabolic parameters (i.e. BE, pH, HCO3−, and [La]) increased from BL to both pre- and post-match in SC, 2) The level of all metabolic parameters in SC compared to PLA at both pre- and post-match, 3) The SC condition resulted in a greater performance vs. PLA in terms of percentage shot consistency during the STPT and more games won during the simulated match, and 4) In SC, games won during the simulated match was positively correlated with both percentage shot consistency and pH.
It has been suggested that when [La] reaches up to 7-8 mM, tennis performance declines [
5]. However, [La] more commonly increases to only 2-4 mM during match play [
2,
18,
23]. Girard and Millet have suggested that elevated blood lactate may lead to mistimed strokes [
18]. Presently, it was observed [La] concentration in SC to reach 5.46 ± 1.11 mM at post-match, which is lower than the upper end previously observed, however, the only 1-h of match time in the present study likely accounts for this lower level. Although a relationship between acidity and mistimed strokes was not observed presently, a positive relationship between pH and games won (r = 0.70) was observed suggesting that inducing alkalosis may enhance tennis performance.
This study showed a significantly greater level of BE, pH, HCO
3−, and [La] in the players at post-match in SC compared to the PLA condition. Interestingly, the increase in [La] in SC occurred despite an increase in pH. However, a concomitant increase [La] and extracellular pH is in agreement with previous findings in which alkalosis has been induced [
44‐
46]. Specifically, Wu et al. [
23] induced alkalosis via NaHCO
3 in male collegiate tennis players and still observed increased [La] just as the present study. Further, Stephens et al. [
46] induced alkalosis via NaHCO
3 during endurance cycling and concomitantly observed increased [La]. Mechanistically, the increased alkalosis observed in these studies is due to an increased H
+ gradient leading to higher H
+ and lactate expulsion from the working skeletal muscles due to monocarboxylate co-transporter (a carrier of H
+ and lactate), which explains increased blood [La] in the presence of alkalosis [
46]. Additionally, all metabolic parameters experienced a non-significant increase from pre- to post-match, which seems incongruent with fatigue that may have been caused by the simulated match. However, post-match blood collection occurred 3 h following supplementation, which is the duration (120 min) that Potteiger et al. [
47] have previously demonstrated HCO
3− level to peak.
Fatigue has been explained as a reduction in maximal force capabilities of a muscle over time during exercise [
48], thus delaying fatigue can maintain neuromuscular capabilites and potentially performance. Indeed, the current study not only noted superior shot consistency (%) in STPT and a greater amount of games won in the simulated match in SC compared to PLA, but also a positive correlation (r = 0.70) between pH level and games won. Therefore, it seems that SC was able to prolong muscle contractile capabilities. Theoretically, prolonging muscle force production would enhance an athlete’s ability to perform training volume, which is the training variable most closely and positively associated with muscle performance adaptations [
49].
Interestingly, the present investigation did not report a significant difference (
p > 0.05) between session RPE in SC (6.45 ± 1.21) vs. PLA (6.7 ± 1.84) despite the improved metabolic profile and performance in SC. However, this finding is in agreement with previous data, which has induced alkalosis via NaHCO
3, and noted specific skill performance increase in tennis [
23] and boxing [
50], but no difference between experimental and control conditions in terms of session RPE. Thus, the perceptual response may not be related to specific skill performance.
The dosage of SC in this study was based off of McNaughton and Cedaro [
8], which demonstrated 0.5 g
.kg
−1BM of SC significantly increased buffering capacity, total work, and peak power during anaerobic cycling performance of durations of 120 s and 240 s in healthy males. Additionally, McNaughton [
28] reported a performance enhancement after SC supplementation in a 1 min maximal cycle ergometer test; however, Cox and Jenkins [
30] did not find SC supplementation to improve performance in repeated 60 s cycling sprint performance despite inducement of alkalosis. Furthermore, McNaughton and Cedaro [
8] did not observe a performance benefit in cycling of a 10 s duration, which may explain the lack of difference in RSA times between SC and PLA in the present study; as each RSA test lasted approximately 5 s. It has been suggested that metabolic factors may not be of great consequence in such a short trials [
26], since reliance on glycolysis is decreased and buffering H
+ is not of great consequence in this short duration. However, Carr et al. [
31] concluding in a meta-analysis that NaHCO
3 improves 1 min sprint performance by 1.7% and has compared favorably to SC for running sprint performance lasting approximately 80s. To explain the differential findings between SC and NaHCO
3 for sprint performance, Van Montfoort et al. [
51] noted that despite SC inducing extracellular alkalosis the intracellular increase in citrate may blunt ATP resynthesis, whereas NaHCO
3 would enhance ATP resynthesis. This explanation may account for the varying results between the 2 alkalizing agents and the lack of benefit of SC for RSA performance in the present study.
Even though NaHCO
3 has been an effective buffer a possible drawback is the possible GI distress. Importantly, the GI distress with both NaHCO
3 and SC is equivocal [
26]. The current results for GI distress revealed that only 3 subjects reported even mild symptoms of GI discomfort (i.e. abdominal pain epigastric pain, abdominal noises, bloating, urge to burp, loss of appetite and flatulence), and only 2 subjects acknowledged a mild headache with no reports of severe GI discomfort following the SC condition. Thus, although NaHCO
3 and SC may both be effective as extracellular buffers, SC may be the more attractive option in an effort to avoid GI discomfort. However, more research should be conducted with NaHCO
3 in tennis players, in which GI discomfort is specifically monitored.
A possible limitation to this study was the small sample size. However, a previous investigation [
23], also in male tennis players, used only 9 subjects (one fewer than the present study) to examine NaHCO
3 supplementation in a double blind fashion. Further, this study is unique as it is the first study to measure specific tennis skills as an outcome measure in response to SC supplementation, adding novelty to the investigation.
Conclusion
In conclusion, SC supplementation (0.5 g.kg−1BM in capsules of 500 mg) significantly altered metabolic parameters (i.e. BE, pH, HCO3−, [La]) and improved skilled tennis performance (i.e. percent shot consistency and games won during simulated match play) compared to PLA. Importantly, no players reported any significant GI discomfort following SC supplementation. Practically, it appears that SC supplementation can be safely and effectively utilized in tennis players to enhanced skilled performance. Although, it cannot be known from these results if SC supplementation would be beneficial in long lasting matches, previous data has shown SC to be effective for up to 30 km of cycling, thus it is possible that SC could be beneficial in matches lasting for multiple hours. Importantly, if SC is utilized in training sessions, training volume could be increased to allow for greater duration of quality skill practice. Additionally, it should be noted that individual athletes may have varying GI responses to SC, even though no athletes reported discomfort in the present study, thus future studies should continue to investigate the efficacy/safety of SC supplementation in various athletic populations.
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