# Resilience under pressure: a systematic review of psychological coping and endurance mechanisms among collegiate tennis athletes in higher education

**Authors:** Zihan Gao, Wan Ahmad Munsif Wan Pa, Mohamad Nizam Bin Nazarudin

PMC · DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1730060 · Frontiers in Psychology · 2026-02-09

## TL;DR

This paper reviews how psychological resilience helps college tennis athletes cope with stress and improve performance.

## Contribution

It systematically analyzes resilience mechanisms in collegiate tennis athletes using recent empirical studies.

## Key findings

- Resilience moderates the relationship between stress and fatigue in athletes.
- Coping strategies mediated anxiety and predicted performance consistency.
- Resilience training is essential for psychological well-being and performance.

## Abstract

This systematic review aimed to synthesize empirical evidence on psychological resilience as a protective and adaptive mechanism for managing stress, anxiety, and mental fatigue among collegiate tennis athletes.

Following PRISMA 2020 and PICOS frameworks, literature was retrieved from Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, ERIC, SPORTDiscus, and CNKI databases. Eligibility criteria included studies published between 2010 and 2025 focusing on college-level tennis players. The review was registered with PROSPERO (CRD4202554321). Quality assessment was conducted using MMAT (2018).

Fifteen studies met inclusion criteria. Resilience significantly moderated the relationship between stress and fatigue, mediated anxiety through coping strategies, and predicted higher performance consistency.

Resilience training and coping-skill interventions are essential for collegiate athletes’ psychological well-being and performance stability.

## Full-text entities

- **Diseases:** fatigue (MESH:D005221), injury (MESH:D014947), disrupted sleep (MESH:D019958), Anxiety (MESH:D001007), Mental Fatigue (MESH:D005222), cognitive defusion (MESH:D003072), Stress (MESH:D000079225), mental toughness (MESH:D008607), Collegiate tennis (MESH:D013716), burnout (MESH:D002055), COVID-19 (MESH:D000086382)
- **Chemicals:** cortisol (MESH:D006854)
- **Species:** Tetrastichus ennis (species) [taxon 2931463], Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606]

## Full text

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## Figures

2 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12927033/full.md

## References

36 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12927033/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12927033