Data from: Senescent declines in elite tennis players are similar across the sexes

Aging is characterized by rising mortality, declining fertility and declines in physiological function with age (functional senescence). Sex-differences in the tempo and severity of survival and fertility declines are widespread, but it is less clear how often, and how much trajectories of functional senescence diverge between the sexes. We tested how physiological function changed with age in male and female elite tennis players using first-serve speed (power) and first-serve accuracy as performance measures. We found absolute differences between the sexes with men serving more quickly, but less accurately than women. Both power and accuracy showed senescent declines but these began earlier for power. There were signals of trait-compensation, where players with pronounced power declines showed increases in accuracy, which might partially buffer against power deterioration. However, there were no sex differences in how either trait changed with age, contrasting with other sports. Sex differences in functional senescence are probably shaped by interactions between natural and sexual selection, the proximate costs of trait expression and a trait’s genetic architecture, and so are highly trait-specific. We discuss the strengths and potential pitfalls of using elite athletes to disentangle these complex interactions.

衰老是指死亡率上升、生育率下降以及随年龄增长出现的生理功能衰退（功能衰老，functional senescence）。生存与生育率衰退的速率和严重程度存在性别差异的现象十分普遍，但目前尚不明确两性间功能衰老的轨迹出现分化的频率与程度究竟如何。本研究以男女精英网球运动员为研究对象，以一发速度（力量）与一发准确率作为表现指标，探究生理功能随年龄的变化情况。研究发现两性间存在绝对差异：男性发球速度更快，但准确率低于女性。力量与准确率均呈现随衰老衰退的趋势，但力量的衰退起始时间更早。研究观察到性状补偿现象：发球力量显著衰退的运动员，其准确率会有所提升，这或许能部分缓冲力量的衰退。然而，两项指标随年龄变化的趋势均未表现出性别差异，这与其他体育项目的研究结果形成对比。功能衰老的性别差异可能由自然选择与性选择之间的相互作用、性状表达的直接成本以及性状的遗传架构共同塑造，因此其存在显著的性状特异性。本研究还讨论了利用精英运动员来解析这些复杂相互作用的优势与潜在局限。