The influence of self-talk on levels of stress and anxiety in tennis players: a systematic review

Abstract

The increase in levels of anxiety and stress have been related most of the time to negative effects on the performance of athletes, so the use of psychological skills such as self-talk has been used to manage anxiety and stress to obtain better sports performance. This article presents a systematic review focused on interventions that used self-talk as a method of mental training to control levels of anxiety and stress in tennis players. We found only 3 studies that investigated the method of self-talk in psychological variables and only one study that evaluate the effect on anxiety. For that reason, more research is suggested to addresses these variables.