Performance-induced emotions experienced during high-stakes table tennis matches

Objectives: To characterize the contents of emotions experienced by elite table tennis players during highstakesmatches and the situational elements that contribute to these experiences. Design: A four-case study. Method: Three top-level table tennis players from the French Men’s Table Tennis Team volunteered toparticipate in the study. Four matches were studied. Procedures involved: (a) videotaping high-stakes tabletennis matches, (b) conducting self-confrontation interviews with players after matches, (c) transcribing theplayers’ actions and self-confrontation data, (d) decomposing their activity into elementary units, and (e)videntifying typical contents of emotion and typical emotional situations. Results: The contents of players’ emotions varied during matches. The pleasant or unpleasant tone ofemotional content was linked to the set result and the interpretations of the unfolding situation. However,other elements of the competitive interaction (score configurations, judgments about the strokes performed)had a strong emotional coloration. Certain similar events (e.g., bad sensations during stroke performance)were frequently coupled with similar emotional content (e.g., displeasure). Conclusions: Until quite recently, the predominant focus in sport psychology has been on pre-performanceemotions, with far less attention paid to the subjective emotional experiences that occur during taskexecution. This exploratory study provides initial empirical support for the notion of bidirectionality inemotion–performance relationships.