Results: From Pre to Post-1 and Post-2, RSH improved TEST time to exhaustion (+18.2 and +17.3% both P < 0.001), while the “onset of blood lactate accumulation” at 4 mmol L –1 occurred at later stages (+24.4 and +19.8%, both P < 0.01). Before (Pre), the week after (Post-1) and 3 weeks after Post-1 (Post-2), physical/technical performance during Test to Exhaustion Specific to Tennis (TEST), repeated-sprint ability (RSA) (8 × ∼20 m shuttle runs-departing every 20 s) and heart rate variability (HRV) were assessed. Methods: In addition to maintaining their usual training (CON), both RSH and RSN groups completed five tennis specific repeated-shuttle sprint sessions (4 × 5 × ∼8 s maximal sprints with ∼22 s passive recovery and ∼5 min rest between sets) over 12 days. Participants were 28.8 ± 5.9 years old without any previous experience of training in hypoxia. Purpose: To examine physiological and technical responses to repeated-sprint training in normobaric hypoxia at ∼3,000 m (RSH, n = 11) or in normoxia (RSN, n = 11) compared to a control group (CON, n = 8) in well-trained tennis players.

6Centre National de Ski Nordique et de Moyenne Montagne (CNSNMM), Prémanon, France.5Faculty of Science, School of Human Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.4Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT), Paris, France.3EA7370 Laboratoire Sport, Expertise et Performance, Institut National du Sport, de l’Expertise et de la Performance, Paris, France.2Institute of Sports Science, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.1French Tennis Federation, Independent Researcher, Paris, France.Willis 2, Thomas Blokker 2, Bernard Montalvan 4, Olivier Girard 5, Gregoire P.

Cyril Brechbuhl 1,2, Franck Brocherie 3, Sarah J.

The long dark sprinting