Age of initiation, years of practice, and competition are related to junior ranking of youth elite tennis players

Objective: Investigate the relationship between the initiation age and practice time, in training and competition, and the ranking position of youth elite tennis players.  Method: Participated 130 youth elite tennis players with a Brazilian ranking (102 boys and 28 girls) aged 13–18 years, selected in two international competitions. A Binary logistic regression was performed. Results: The results showed that tennis players who started earlier have a 28% better chance of reaching the top 20 ranking, and that each additional year of training increases the chance of a tennis player to reach the top 20 by 1.43 times. Also, each year of experience in competitions increases the chance of tennis players to reach the top 20 ranking by 1.41 times, and that an earlier start each year in participating in competitions increases the chances of an athlete to reach the top 20 by 20%. Conclusion: The initiation age of training and the experience in competitions are important factors there are related to better ranking positions of youth elite tennis players.