The health and physical benefits of playing tennis from the Arab tennis seniors’ point of view

Abstract

The research aimed to identify the psychological and social benefits of playing tennis from the Arab tennis seniors’ point of view. The study sample included (79) male and female players among the seniors of Arab tennis registered in the Arab Tennis Federation (ATF) and the seniors Associations for the year 2023/2024. Descriptive approach had been used due to its suitability to the nature of the study. The researcher designed questionnaire consisted of 18 items divided into two domains: the psychological domain and the social domain. The results of this study indicated that there is no differences in the respondents’ views on the importance of the psychological and social benefits of practicing tennis depending on the study variables (gender, age groups, nature of work, monthly income, and marital status). The respondents agreed that practicing tennis helps to release negative energy, making them less susceptible to frustration and psychological conflict, getting rid of fear of the future, and increasing reassurance and self-satisfaction. In addition, it helped them improve the quality of sleep. This is from the psychological aspect. For the social aspect, the respondents agreed that, playing tennis helped them form new relationships, strengthen the value system compatible with the values of society, and reduced the level of conflicts and disagreement with others, in addition to consolidating national belonging. A slight difference appeared in the respondents’ views regarding marital status in favor of the single respondents.

In general, the percentage of total consensus on the psychological domain was higher than on the social, where the percentages were respectively (86.554%, 83.656%). From here we can extract the following recommendations: The need for pioneers “males & females” aged 30 years and over to practice various sports activities, including tennis for better psychological health and a healthy social life. The researcher also recommends the necessity of conducting new studies on the categories of seniors and sports in the Arab world.