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Tennis, like any other practice, undergoes challenges and revisions to its nature. A number of technical and technological innovations have recently been implemented and/or suggested by a variety of interested parties including the introduction of shorter sets and tie-breaker sets, and a revised tennis seeding structure. These innovations, if adopted, will represent a new instantiation of the game. Thus, determining how decisions concerning the future development of the game ought to be made and who ought to make those decisions is of great importance in terms of how fair the decision-making process is and whether the decisions are good for the game itself. In response to these problems we develop a normative account of "fair play" from Macintyre's (1985) nee-Aristotelian position, emphasising the importance of the internal goods, practices, and traditions of tennis, and that decisions ought to be made by those who have relevant experience or knowledge of the practice of elite male tennis. This account, however, fails to provide a decision-making method and is vulnerable to the criticism that it is inherently conservative. We consider three theses that might fill this lacunae and from which a rational decision-making method to evaluate technical and technological innovations in elite male tennis could be developed. First, we consider Rawls's (1971) method of "reflective equilibrium" which allows us to clarify issues, and is both systematic and democratic, but it is too far removed from actual sporting practices, their ethos, histories and traditions to have any normative force. Secondly, we consider Rawls's (1987) "overlapping consensus" model which is conscious of the political situatedness of decision-making but it is inadequate since the consensuses which it reaches might be based on criteria external to the norms of sporting practices. In order to ensure that the consensus reached is based on a critical consensus of the internal norms of sporting practices, we consider Walzer's (1983) thesis that cultural spheres have internal norms which must be respected and which are the basis for normative judgements about justice or goodness within that practice. This thesis is sympathetic to, yet critical of, the internal goods, practice, and traditions of elite male tennis, and that decisions ought to be made by those who have experience or knowledge of the practice of elite male tennis. We conclude the thesis by presenting a tradition-practice bound decision-making model that can be used to evaluate technical and technological innovations in elite male tennis which is transparent, democratic, and respectful of the traditions and internal norms of tennis.

The purpose of this thesis was concerned with the identification of the nature and content of the pre performance affective experience of the rugby union performer, and the subsequent measurement of the efficacy of a psychological intervention strategy to enhance the precompetitive mental state. Study 1 of the thesis conducted a preliminary investigation into the overall experience of sports performers' precompetitive affect (i.e., negative/positive) and the relationship with symptoms associated with competitive anxiety through the employment of trait self-report measures. The findings highlighted the importance of maintaining favourable perceptions of anxiety in the experience of positive affect. In order to describe the nature of this positive affective state, a sport specific self-report scale was designed and validated in Study 2 within a population of competitive athletes. Study 3 used the scale to examine the content of the pre performance affective experience and the relationship with interpretations of symptoms associated with competitive anxiety. The findings identified the existence of competitive anxiety symptoms. In order to derive a comprehensive understanding of the precompetitive experience a qualitative perspective was employed in Study 4. In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 international, male, rugby union players. Appropriate pre performance mental states were identified with symptoms associated with mental, physical, and technical readiness. Inappropriate pre performance mental states were symptomatic of a lack of mental, physical and technical readiness and negative experiences associated with competitive anxiety symptoms. The study also established the influence of significant others upon an individual's mental preparation for competition within the context of the team sport. A final purpose of Study 4 was to describe the psychological strategies employed by performers to achieve appropriate pre performance mental states. The study identified the employment of task-specific imagery in order to facilitate appropriate pre performance mental states. Utilising these findings, the final study of the thesis adopted a single-case design to investigate the efficacy of a task-specific imagery strategy in enhancing appropriate mental readiness for performance in 4 sub-elite rugby union players. The findings demonstrated enhancement in pre performance mental readiness across all participants. Specifically, increases in the level of mental preparation and self-confidence were identified, whilst a lower level of competitive anxiety symptoms were reported. The overall findings of the thesis have facilitated a greater understanding of the affective experiences and psychological strategies of competitive athletes prior to performing. Practical recommendations are proposed in order to facilitate the enhancement and achievement of ideal precompetitive mental states in sports performers. These outline the importance of employing structured task-specific imagery to facilitate appropriate activation states and the need to establish structured mental 'warm up' periods in the preparation for competition.

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