If tennis means more to you than just a weekend hit and giggle and you’re determined to lift your game to the next level then these tips will help:

Fitness:

Tennis specific fitness sessions for any keen tennis player should include:

  • Dynamic Warm ups
  • Flexibility
  • Core Development
  • Power                                                                            
  • Strength
  • Agility
  • Overall Conditioning                                

As a tennis player being a better athlete than the competitor across the net is a huge advantage. 

And if you’d like some specific advice on how best to avoid injury whilst playing tennis, see here.

Dynamic Warm up

As an athlete your warm up should be the first consideration, if your warm up is poor then the chances of a poor performance increase, the purpose of a dynamic warm up is to prepare the Muscles and nervous system for the up coming stresses of competition.

You should be sweating after your warm up, performing static stretching alone is not a warm up, static stretching should be done in your cool down, to much static stretching can dull the nervous system, the nervous system controls your muscle contractions, if the nervous system is not sharp then your muscle contractions may not be as fast. So remember do a warm up that involves movement.

Flexibility

Flexibility is a key component to any fitness program as it increases your range of motion.

Core Development

Your core is the central point of your body, which includes your lower back, abs and hips.

Almost all movement is started or transferred through the core. So we need the core to function as a link between the upper and lower body with muscle coordination, strength and stability.

Power

Power is the time required to exert force over a given distance. The exertion of force at a high speed.

All players are keen to produce more power on their strokes or have a quicker first step.

In order to develop maximum force to the ball you need to train your whole body to develop this additional force when the power shot is required.

Power training should be undertaken to recruit additional muscle fibres to your strokes than you have historically utilised. The more muscle fibres you recruit to perform a movement, the faster that movement can be performed.

Strength

Physical strength is defined as the ability to exert force on an object using muscles.

Increasing physical strength through a resistance training program should be a priority for any advanced tennis player wishing to elevate to the next level.

Agility

Great agility is requires a combination of coordination, balance, speed, reflexes and strenth. Having greater agility than your opponent is a massive competitive advantage.

Look at how well Novak covers the court; his ability to change his body position, recover and stay in the point is legendary.

The gladitorial, one-on-one nature of tennis lends itself to the use of Sports Psychology as an area for player improvement, particularly at the elite level.

A young couple on tennis clothes, with tennis racquets sitting on a clay court next to a tennis net.

Sports Psychology

In producing elite tennis talents, we must give our players every opportunity to be the best they can possibly be by providing all the necessary tools.

Sports psychology is a major part in any young and inspiring tennis players development.

To become a better tennis player these days takes more than just hitting hundreds of balls.

To separate yourself from the pack requires a whole package of skills and assets: work ethic, physical fitness, discipline, court craft, footwork, desire, mental strength, etc.

Sports psychology is one of the pieces in the puzzle that can help develop champion tennis players.

As a tool, it can be very useful in:

·         Pre-match routines

·         Controlling nerves

·         Confidence and re-focusing techniques

·         Self confidence and personal development skills

·         Stress and time management skills

If you’d like to read more about this, see here.

Communication skills

·         Improving group and team communication skills

·         Conflict resolution and assertiveness training

·         Improving athlete/coach communication

·         Body language for peak performance

·         Public speaking skills

Health and wellbeing

·         Improve sleep patterns

·         Understanding the psychology of poor dietary habits

·         Weight management

·         Strategies for improving rehabilitation programs, processes and outcomes

·         Increase confidence and returning from injury

·         Career transition

·         Over-training and burnout.

Noticeably improving your tennis game will also one-on-one lessons with a qualified coach.

These sessions should be planned around analysing and improving footwork, shot selection, stroke patterns, point construction, court craft and rally patterns.

A good coach will tailor these sessions to your specific needs and to the training regime that you are working through.