Professional Orientation of Junior Tennis Players

The highly visible successes of teenagers in professional tennis seem to have increased the emphasis on winning in junior tennis. The purpose of this field study was to determine the extent to which a professional orientation, that is, an emphasis on winning, existed in junior tennis players and the degree to which it was related to levels of involvement and success as well as the aspiration to become a professional tennis player. Subjects were sampled from two populations. The competitive group consisted of participants in sectional tournaments while the noncompetitive group consisted of participants in tennis camps. Webb's (1969) professionalization of attitudes scale was used to assess orientation towards winning. Orientation scores were compared across level of competitive involvement, gender, tennis career aspiration and degree of match success. Results revealed that the competitive group endorsed winning significantly more often than did the noncompetitive group. This endorsement showed a strong relationship with tournament finish but a low correlation with career aspiration. Between and within group gender comparisons revealed that significantly fewer of the noncompetitive girls prioritized winning than did their same-sex competitive and other-sex noncompetitive counter parts. Overall, the degree to which winning was endorsed increased with degree of competitive involvement and tournament success. The discussion includes possible explanations for the high degree of professional orientation and for the presence of gender similarities and differences among junior tennis players.