Introduction: As the technical and physical disparities among competitive tennis players narrow, the greatest potential for enhancing performance lies in strengthening psychological competitive abilities (e.g., stress and emotion management). Music is increasingly utilized in sports settings (e.g., pre-game warm-ups) as a tool to adjust mental state, boost morale, create an active atmosphere, and help athletes maintain focus. While general research exists, there is a need for further empirical studies focusing specifically on the effects of self-selected music on tennis players in a real competitive setting, linking the intervention to both pre-match state anxiety and actual sports performance. The primary objective of this study is to experimentally investigate the influence of listening to music on the pre-match state anxiety (including cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence) and the final match performance scores of competitive tennis players.
