SUMMARY Objective: The aim of this article was to review the literature to estimate (1) if anxiety has influence

on tennis players performance and outcome and (2) methods that have been applied to estimate their role and extent during training programs focused in tournament seasons. Methods: The literature was searched using PUBMED, SCIELO, MEDICINE AND SCIENCE IN SPORTS AND EXERCISE, SCIENCEDIRECT, LILACS e MEDLINE, from 1991 to 2010. The inclusion criteria were (1) original scientific articles; (2) studies carried out in human beings; and (3) studies that used salivar cortisol measurement conducted in competition situation. The articles had to contain at least two of the terms anxiety, stress, cortisol and competition and tennis player. 486 papers were found containing in their title or summary at least two descriptive terms. From these, only 33 papers have met the selective criteria. Results: The ability to handle anxiety, therefore, may be decisive for an athlete. In sport, there is great concern about the declining production of the athlete in training and in matches, which compromises the continuity and the athlete's squad for the upcoming competitions. To meet what is expected of him, the athlete must adequately address the expectations of the coach, their teammates, their families, friends and in certain situations, the media. There are differences between athletes with high and low standard, and among the most skilled athletes, the values of self-confidence and anxiety were more intense. They also highlighted the lack of significant difference between individual and team sports, both for anxiety and for self-confidence. Men had higher scores on anxiety and self-confidence when compared with women. Anxiety disorder symptoms and can be considered as one of the main difficulties faced by the players, the consequences of moments of tension, apprehension and concern felt as anticipation of problems. Conclusions: The results showed that higher levels of anxiety were found in athletes with more errors and perfectionists. Conducted a similar study where the experienced players had lower stress levels than inexperienced players. Stress is an undeniable aspect of competitive sports that can be experienced before, during or after competition, occurring regardless of age, gender, specific location or the level of competitive athletes. It can be positive when represented by a need to achieve or maintain an optimal activation before and during the event, bringing the athlete to mobilize energy to accomplish their goals.

INTRODUCTION The several institutionalized sporting modalities organize competitions that have as objective to search for the best sporting performance. The competition sport, marked by situations of evaluation and of competitiveness, is considered as a factor that can generate anxiety (DAMAZIO 2007). Scientifically anxiety is the same as stress. Thus, it would not be inaccurate to define stress as an intense state of anxiety (HANIN 2000). The anxiety is a feeling of apprehension and tension that provokes general fear in the individual with somatic and psychological reactions. There is not a general rule on the facilitative or inhibiting characteristic of anxiety. Anxiety, as an adaptive response from the organism to the influence of the environment, seems to have some positive or negative influence in the athlete's performance, according to the type of activity he/she practices, his/her age, and the character (collective or individual) of the sport (BECKER 2007). The competitive sports can be considered synonymous of situations that culminate in a comparative evaluation, by the athlete and by the others involved. Such comparisons can be made between the objectives pursued, the challenges, rivalries, expectations and a host of other factors associated with prestige, money, self-esteem, social recognition and admiration. Court tennis is a sport that requires precision, coordination and speed, for so much, ideal conditions of operation of the musculature as well as a balanced and focused mind in the task. This sporting modality tolerates low levels of anxiety, beyond its limits the athlete can have his/her performance negatively affected. The aim of this study was to review the literature in order to verify the following points: (1) if anxiety have influence on tennis players performance and outcome (2) methods that have been applied to estimate their role and extent during training programs focused in tournament seasons.

METHODS Thus, for the present study a systematic review of research was performed in order to investigate the research that has addressed the competitive anxiety in the last 20 years (1991 to 2010). To this end, we proceeded to an electronic search on the site of the descriptors of Health Science (www.decs.bvs.br) under:anxiety (anxiety), stress (stress), cortisol and competition (cortisol and competition) and tennis player (tennis) . The survey was conducted in the databases: PUBMED, SCIELO, MEDICINE AND SCIENCE IN SPORTS AND EXERCISE, SCIENCEDIRECT, LILACS and MEDLINE. 486 studies were found showing in their title or their abstract, at least two of those descriptors. Of these, only 33 articles were selected because they fit the criteria: original scientific articles, studies on humans, studies using salivary cortisol as a measure, made in competitive situations. At the other articles were excluded.

ANXIETY Anxiety is a negative emotional state characterized by nervousness, worry and apprehension and agitation associated with activation of the body (WEINBERG E GOULD, 2001). As a normal reaction toward something specific, anxiety is part of our alarm system and regulates our fears. It is a natural phenomenon and its difference between normal and pathological anxiety is the intensity of anxiety (Bauer, 2002, p. 71). Anxiety is a warning signal that arises when the individual feels threatened, and can also become maladaptive and interfere with productivity and welfare. This state of inhibition of anxiety may be reflected in some personality traits such as shyness, rejection sensitivity and a diminished ability to perceive and take advantage of positive opportunities. However, the concepts in the sports psychology may be confused, that is, factors such as stress and anxiety are used interchangeably, since, according to Brando (1995), stress is a combination or situations that a person perceives as threatening and cause anxiety and when the individual is unable to deal with these situations, it is often led to failure. Anxiety in principle, is not a disease but a preparation of the body to deal with a present situation, and then the body's response to a given stimulus, which varies from person to person (ROSSI, 1991). It is the extension or exacerbation of a specific situation that, according to the characteristics of each individual at a given time, can produce undesirable changes. ANSHEL. (1990) considered the psychological and physiological reactions to anxiety , as follows: psychological reactions anger and aggression, apathy and depression and cognitive impairment; physiological reactions - increased metabolic rate, increased heart rate, dilated pupils, elevated blood pressure, increased respiratory rate, muscle tension and secretion of endorphins and ACTH. Nowadays, one physiological reactions of anxiety that needs to be highlighted is the release of cortisol, a stress hormone,

which gives the body conditions of immediate response to situations perceived as threatening. The defense responses of stress (fight or flight) are related to autonomic changes cognitive, emotional, and behavioral (KUDIELKA . 2009). Cortisol has an overall catabolic action, bringing harmful effects to the mind and body (RUDOLPH,&.; McAULEY 1998) by promoting protein degradation, lipolysis, gluconeogenesis, glucose production by the liver, decreased muscle mass and conjunctive matrix . The increase in cortisol is also responsible for the decrease of RNA encoding the serotonin receptor (at the hippocampus). These combined effects contribute to the decrease in brain levels of serotonin, a typical state of depression (McARDLE,et al 2008). Many studies approach the influence of cortisol in physical exercises. It was observed that patients with fatigue exhibited a higher blood level of cortisol than those without fatigue and a significant increase of salivary cortisol levels was shown immediately after a high-intensity exercise, as well as the low intensity exercise resulted in no significant levels of cortisol . Despite of these findings, it must be considered that the hormonal response to exercise depends on exogenous conditions, such as type and intensity of exercise, temperature and humidity, as well as endogenous factors, for example, muscle mass and hereditary disposition, physical condition and type of training carried out previously (ELVERSON& WILSON 2005). Individual differences in salivary cortisol concentrations in the same condition may suffer interference from various factors, including age, sex, concentrations of sex hormones, pregnancy, lactation, breastfeeding, smoking, alcohol and coffee, as well as diet (POLK ET AL., 2005, MCARDLE et al., 2008). Physical activity has a significant effect of cortisol at intensities above 70% VO2max. In contrast, physical activity and short low-intensity exercise seems too small or negligible effect on the day hours (h) cortisol in plasma (mg / dl) cortisol responses. Intensities between 60 and 65% of V02mx can generate significant responses in plasma cortisol, since it maintained for many hours (KUDIELKA et al., 2009).

There are three ways to collect cortisol: cortisol, urinary free cortisol and salivary cortisol. The salivary cortisol has been used by many researchers (HASEGAWA ,et al, 2008) and has been widely accepted in scientific circles, not only for its practicality but also for its strong correlation with both blood cortisol and free cortisol in urine. Furthermore, cortisol is a psychophysiological more reliable measure than subjective questionnaires.

Anxiety in Sport In sports, whether recreational or high-yield, anxiety can occur at any time, for several reasons. Anxiety can be from many everyday situations real or imagined (LIPP, 1996), arising from internal and external pressures are not controlled by individuals (ROSE OF JUNIOR, 1997). In the sports context, these situations are related to extra competitive and competitive factors. The extra competitive (social and personal) will cover all situations that cause stress are part of daily life and personal life of the athlete and that relate indirectly to the competition, which may interfere with your sports performance (JUNIOR DE ROSE et al.,2001). The factors are related to competitive situations inherent to the competitive process and may be related to the individual and / or the environment. Occur before, during and after the competition, being considered, respectively, factors pre-competitive, competitive and competitive post (ROSE OF JUNIOR, 1998). Chart 1 presents some extra competitive factors of anxiety (personal and social) that may interfere with the performance of athletes in different sports.
TABLE 1. EXTRA COMPETITIVE FACTORS DETERMINING ANXIETY AUTHOR POPULATION DETERMINING OF ANXIETY PERSONAL SOCIAL
Death or illness in the family Financial hardships Soccer players (from 15 SAMULSKI (1992) to 18 years of age) Fights Conflicts Personality Personal Interest Impulses Affection Competition itself Media pressure

North American GOULD et al. (1993) Olympic Fighters Personal expectancy of performance

Preparatory period of training Constant long trips Lack of training structure (accommodation and meals) Accommodation and food Lack of financial support Fights and discussion with family illness or death in family Staying a long time way from home _ _ talk with friends talk with her boyfriend (a) _ _ _ Love relationship Problems with school Financial Problems _ Fear _ Insecurity _ Expectations _ Objectives _ Fear of disappointing people _ Inexperience _ Futures contracts _ Self demand exaggerated Problems loving relationships Family problems Feeding Problems Long trips sleep badly Lack of rewards Lack of time to deal with everyday situations _ _ Loss of bonds of friendship Do not have a social life Be willing to go out, not go to parties and can

Handball players of the DE ROSE JUNIOR et al. (1993) Brazilian Olympic Games team 1992

Basketball players of DE ROSE JUNIOR et al. (2001) high level (from 25 to 38 years of age)

DE ROSE JUNIOR (2002)

Review study

DE ROSE JUNIOR et al. (2004)

Athletes of basketball, handball and volleyball from 14 to 19 years

The competitive sport can be considered synonymous of situations that culminate in a comparative evaluation, by the athlete and by the others

involved. Such comparisons can be made between the objectives pursued, the challenges, rivalries, expectations and a host of other factors associated with prestige, money, self-esteem, social recognition and admiration. All these factors generate in athletes some affective states and complex somatic features inherent to the individuality of each competition and athlete, as considered by and ROSE JR (1993). Moreover the interaction with the site, opponents, referees, coaches, the fans, the preparation, climate and even with the administrative aspects (record players, sponsors, contracts and parallel factor as the press and fans etc) are influencing factors It is common to expect people involved in sport environment are constantly subjected to a large number of stressors, such as observations, opinions and judgments, which may cause these people to create expectations, goals and pressures for inappropriate development (MARTENS, 1990). WEINBERG AND GOULD (2001) corroborates with the above statement and emphasize that the more important an event, more anxiety generating it will be. Likewise, the more uncertain a result, more stress it will generate. However, each person looks at a situation differently. What seems important or uncertain for one person may not be for another. In this way, a variety of internal and external stressors can destabilize the athlete physically and mentally, before and during competition. They are: 1) external stressors: over-stimulation by noise, light, pain, danger; 2) stimuli that induce the primary needs: food, water, sleep, temperature, climate; 3) stressors performance super-requirement, subrequirement, failure, criticism, censure, high responsibility; 4) social stressors, social isolation, personality conflicts, habit change, death of relatives, among others (SAMULSKI, 1995). WEINBERG et al.(2008) assessed anxiety in soccer teams using questionnaires in 120 male athletes, aged from 13 to 20 years. The results showed that higher levels of anxiety were found in athletes with more errors and perfectionists. BRANDO (2000) conducted a similar study where the experienced players had lower anxiety levels than inexperienced players. The anxiety in the sporting provides psychophysiological events that will interfere with the athletes performance (WEINBERG, GOULD, 2001), as explained by the anxiety model, consisting of four interrelated stages . The first

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stage corresponds of situations or environmental demands; the second refers to the perception of individual demands or environmental situations; the third corresponds to the individual's response to the cognitive evaluation of the stressful event, and the fourth and final stage comprises the behavior or performance. Anxiety is an undeniable aspect of competitive sports that can be experienced before, during or after competition, occurring regardless of age, gender, specific location or the level of competitive athletes (ANSHEL, 1990). It can be positive when represented by a need to achieve or maintain an optimal activation before and during the event, bringing the athlete to mobilize energy to accomplish their goals. But mostly, it will be negative, especially when derived from external pressures or by the individual, making the situation a threat to their well-being or self-esteem (CRUZ, 1996). The routines of training, competition and selection in sport can be extremely contentious and involve a number of obstacles, such as the separation of the athlete in your family and social environment, the difficulty of further study, the high degree of recovery in training and competition and uncertainty about the continuity of his sports career (MARQUES, 2009). Because of this, it is increasingly common to use standard sports training for the professional sports in the athletic programs for children and adolescents (DE ROSE JR, 2002). The ability to handle anxiety, therefore, may be decisive for an athlete; STEFANELLI, (2007). In sport, there is great concern about the declining production of the athlete in training and in matches, which compromises the continuity and the athlete's squad for the upcoming competitions. To meet what is expected of him, the athlete must adequately address the expectations of the coach, their teammates, their families, friends and in certain situations, the media (BRANDO, 2000). CORDONA et al. (2010) compared the anxiety levels in male basketball players associated with poor performance on the court. CAPITANIO et al. (2002) compared the level of anxiety among players of both sexes aged 13 to 20 years. Their findings concluded that female athletes had higher stress level.

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It is extremely necessary to educate all those involved in sports practice of athletes (parents, teachers, technicians and other professionals), about the importance of management of emotions and reactions of individuals facing stressful situations, to make this practice a healthy and balanced experience. To this end, it is important that coaches and teachers to communicate with athletes in mature language, no threats and not overemphasizing the results and ways of awards. It is also important to consider not only the athlete as a tool to get the expected result (victory in a competition), but to develop a job training based on a strongly diversified practices, emphasizing individual effort and the progressive improvements in performance. (CORBETT et al.2008).

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ANXIETY IN COURT TENNIS The concept of anxiety as a subjective feeling that sets the person into an alarm state has been described by different authors studying the factors that have a negative influence in the performance of tennis players (EDWARDS & KURLANDER 2010). Behavioral psychologists and other scholars use the performance in sports as a tool to understand human behavior, emotions, and the processes of human adaptation. In this universe of aspects which constitute mans attitudes, either actions or reactions, some of the tensions sportsmen experience have their origin in anxiety related factors and the perception of such factors depend on the individual interpretation of events (DAMAZIO, 2007). Stress and anxiety experiences in sports of competition are common problems that worry all persons involved in the sporting process (CRUZ, 1996). According to some research by ROSO (2003), anxiety varies from one person to another and it depends on the type of sport, being some more demanding than others. A study conducted by Woodman; HARDY (2003), investigated the relationship between anxiety and performance in the competition, results showed that there are differences among athletes of high and low standard, and among the most skilled athletes, the values of anxiety and self-confidence was most intense. They also highlighted the lack of significant difference between individual and team sports, both for anxiety and for self-confidence. Men had higher scores of anxiety and self-confidence, compared with women. KIRKBY & LIU (1999) corroborates with the above author showing that the practice of a sport or of an individual sport influences anxiety. We evaluated the level of anxiety of 235 Chinese athletes who practice individual sports (athletics, swimming and court tennis) and team sports (volleyball, basketball) just before the competition. They found that athletes who participated individually (regardless of sex) scored much higher on the anxiety scale.

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Court tennis is a sport that requires precision, coordination, speed and ideal conditions for the functioning of muscles and the mind steady and focused on the activity. Increased stress can affect the performance of the tennis player, distracting him/her from the relevant aspects of the motor task, causing loss of concentration, lack of emotional processes with the guidance of dysfunctional neuro-muscular activity, manifested by disorganized and ineffective motor responses (SICLIA, 1994). The increase in anxiety occurs independently of the intensity of motor activity (KUGLER et al. 1996; Hasegawa et al., 2007). In shogi players (Hasegawa et al., 2007) and football coaches (KUGLER et al., 1996), for example, elevations of salivary cortisol were significant, although less dramatic than athletes from other sports with large motor involvement / physical (McKay et al. 1997; MASO et al. 2002; Carr et al. 2006; Elloumi et al., 2008). Anxiety disorder symptoms and can be considered as one of the main difficulties faced by the players, the consequences of moments of tension, apprehension and concern felt as anticipation of problems. According to EDWARDS & KURLANDER (2010), anxiety in tennis players varies from moment to moment, from situation to situation, not being a stable personality trait, besides being specific to certain time and environment, which may fluctuate greatly. This oscillation can be observed in competitions where the athletes reported not feeling confident at the start of the match and that confidence increased with the progress of the match. This can be seen in the work of BERGERON et al. (1991) that analyzed the level salivary cortisol in 10 tennis players during training. They concluded that the levels of salivary cortisol were higher in the opening minutes of the match. These results also occur in other modalities of sports, as reported by MACKINNON (1997) that examined the level of cortisol in swimmers. Moreover, KRAEMER et al (2008) found high levels of cortisol in marathon runners, not only in the beginning but also along the route. Likewise, some tennis players, surveyed through questionnaires, showed high levels of stress during the games where the shots had a greater degree of difficulty according to their individual skills. To these players to change these

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tactics would have a strategic role to success, thus decreasing the levels of salivary cortisol and consequently lowering stress levels (GOULD et al., 1996) . For some authors the cortisol level decreases over a sequence of tournaments as reported by Dru et al. (2008), who also found a significant reduction in salivary cortisol in tennis players along the participation in various competitive events, suggesting that familiarity with the competitive environment has an inverse correlation to the level of stress. Differences in salivary cortisol concentrations were also analyzed between the situations of training and competition (McKAY et al. 1997, SALVADOR et al., 2003), being diagnosed increase in the concentration of cortisol in competitive situations in judo and golf. When athletes change their focus of the game to their individual concerns there is a decrease the concentration which leads to low performance and loss of strategic advantage. Such behavior is more sensitive to less experienced players in which the lack of habit of competitiveness leads to losses arising from increasing levels of cortisol and stress. DEL VILA et al. (2007) corroborate with this reasoning. In their work carried out between professional tennis players and amateur ones, they concluded that due to the increased attendance to the competitive environment the athletes showed constant decrease in their levels of anxiety and better results in court. Athletes in golf called "non-elite" had higher levels of salivary cortisol before, during and after the competition when compared to elite athletes (Kim et al., 2009). Football coaches showed higher concentrations of salivary cortisol during the competition when compared to pre-competitive (KUGLER et al., 1996), while athletes of shogi (chess very kind practiced in Japan) (Hasegawa et al., 2007) and Rugby (MASO et al. 2002; ELLOUMI et al., 2008) demonstrated a higher concentration of cortisol in post-competitive. According to NILSEN & MCPHERSON (2001), when an athlete loses his/her focus to the match, his/her concentration decreases resulting in loss of strategic advantage. This behavior is more sensitive in less experienced players, whose lack of habit of competitiveness leads to performance losses due to higher levels of salivary cortisol and stress.

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Contrary to the above authors, Haneishi et al. (2007), monitoring the behavior of salivary cortisol concentrations in professional and amateur sportswomen from a high school football team during a typical training session, found a much higher elevation in salivary cortisol in the professional players (250%) than in the amateur ones (140%) only in competitive situation. Most athletes recognize that the environment of competition and anxiety is the main factor that prevents the transfer of their skills developed in training sessions to the moments of a tournament. Thus, familiarity with the environment of competition would prevent or reduce such a blockage, as stated by PANTEDELIS et al. (1997).
TABLE 2. MAIN RESULTS OF THE ANALISED STUDIES Sample(n) Age Sex (M/F) Sport

Author Year

Method

Results

Edward e Kurlander 2010

8 Adults F Tennis and Volley 220 Adults M/F Tennis 16 Teenagers 8M / 6F Tennis 12 Teenagers 6M / 6F Tennis 132 Juvenile M/F Tennis 12 teenagers F Tennis 16 Teenagers F Tennis 8

Comparison of level of anxiety by analysis of questionnaires and salivary cortisol in athletes from tennis and volleyball. Analysis of the level of anxiety by questionnaire Analysis of the anxiety level through questionnaires and salivary cortisol in the first round of tournament Analysis of questionnaire and video tape during tournament Analysis by means of a questionnaire on the level of anxiety caused by external factors (family) Analysis of questionnaire and VT to compare anxiety levels between advanced and beginner Analysis of salivary cortisol and questionnaire in the tournament and training Analysis of a

Perry e William 1998

Flaire et al. 2009

There was no significant difference when comparing evaluation methods in athletes. Increase observed only in the moment of competition. There was no significant difference between genders. Beginners with lower levels than advanced. higher level of cortisol in both analysis lower cortisol level in both tests to winning athletes Advanced players with less anxiety with better results in both sexes Tennis players with parents of participatory approach had lower levels of anxiety

Del Vila et al. 2007

Gold et al. 2006

Nielsen e MacPeterson 2001 Pantedelis 1997 Dru et al.

Advanced had lower anxiety levels

Increased anxiety level tournaments Increasing level of

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2008

Teenagers M Tennis 7 Teenagers F Tennis 235 Teenagers M/F Athletics, Swimming, Tennis, Volleyball, Basketball

Kramer et al. 2003

questionnaire to assess levels of motivation and anxiety in several tournaments Analysis of salivary cortisol levels and evaluation of training and competition in video tape Analysis of questionnaire on anxiety level in pre-competition

motivation and decreasing anxiety with a succession of tournaments

No significant difference

Kyrkby & Liu 1999

Athletes in individual sports with higher scores of anxiety

Yet the same authors surveyed young female tennis players and found in them higher levels of salivary cortisol than in young male tennis players in times of competition. Although the players are accustomed to the routine of training and competitions, there is always a higher level of stress in tournaments as proven in the work of KRAEMER et al. (2003) in which the athletes accustomed to long periods of routine always had a level of salivary cortisol in tournaments regardless of place and time. The level salivary cortisol is highest during the heating of a tennis match .This may occur because tennis is an individual sport which in turn generates high levels of stress and anxiety when compared to team sports such as volleyball which, according to FILAIRE et al. (2009), the level of salivary cortisol had only a small increase at the end of the match. The anticipatory effect of cortisol, characterized as an abrupt increase in circulating hormone concentrations in the initial stages the competition (Suay et al., 1999), occurred independently of the characteristic of sport (individual and team sports), the relationship with the opponent (whether or no physical contact) and population (athletes and coaches) studied (KUGLER et al. 1996; MCKAY et al. 1997; MASO et al., 2002, SALVADOR et al. 2003; CARR et al. 2006; ELLOUMI et al., 2009 and KIM et al., 2009). In general, according to the results of DE ROSE JR (2002), individual sports have a higher level of anxiety than the collective sports. Another interesting result is that young female athletes have higher levels of anxiety than young male athletes, contrary to PERRY & WILLIAM (1998) who reported in their studies that regardless of gender, tennis players do not differ in levels of

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anxiety. The same authors point out that high levels of blood cortisol were found in athletes with few technical skills and worst ranked. The skill and experience also were found to interfere in the control of competitive stress (NICHOLLS, 2007). Golfers elite had not only greater selfconfidence, lower cognitive anxiety before, during and after the competition for non-elite athletes. The fact that elite athletes presented lower concentrations of salivary cortisol (although competition is at higher intensity than non-elite competitions) may be attributed to the effect of training and / or experience, familiarizing the athletes with stressors (KIM et al., 2009). The anxiety of tennis is a variant factor that depends on the situation, not being a stable personality trait, and it is specific in time and environment, which may fluctuate greatly. This oscillation can become more sensitive to competition but not solely restricted to those times (BARRETO, 2003). It is recommended that athletes keep their low levels of anxiety for best results (MARTINS, 1990).

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CONCLUSION According to the data, the competition (whether understood as a process or a final moment) is undoubtedly an inexhaustible source of situations that cause anxiety and stress. Whatever the level of the athlete involved or played the sport, the competition is a constant challenge, often by individual characteristics or situational, ultimately becoming a threat to the athlete. Among the specific factors of anxiety identified in various studies (with emphasis on the study conducted by the author with high level athletes and youth teams), it became clear that he who has the highest number of situations that cause anxiety is the very game situation (or evidence, when considering the individual sports). It should also highlight the importance of other people who are important to the competitive process: coach, referees and teammates may represent significant sources of anxiety, from their attitudes and relationships. Other factors mentioned less as an organization, planning, training, psychological states and physical aspects must also be taken into consideration because, as stated throughout the article, the competition is a process consisting of multiple variables that must be addressed an integrated manner. No one factor is alone. Actually there are a number of factors, and they can lead the athlete to an adequate income or not. It remains to athletes and sports professionals and psychology had knowledge of such factors and attributes to the athletes who offers them the best way to deal with so many variables and maintain a performance level that enables them to reach certain goals individually and collectively. Other studies indicated it is concluded that these more experienced individuals tend to be more successful in the sport because they are more confident.

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Individual sports that generate more collective anxiety can be from many everyday situations real or imagined, arising from internal and external pressures are not controlled by individuals. In the sports context, these situations are related to extra competitive and competitive factors. The salivary cortisol has been constituted as an affordable, fast and noninvasive evaluation of competitive anxiety, by enabling the collection be performed in any situation, without causing reactive, not ethical or practical constraints common methods of blood collection and urine.

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