Tennis Player World

Tennis conditioning is important to all tennis players.

With the power and movement demands of the modern game, changes in surface and equipment as well as the facility for players to play every day of the week if they wanted to, tennis players really need to address the need to train to play as opposed to play to train (as they tended to years ago).

In order to play at the highest level you can you need to get a good tennis conditioning program in place.

It needs to address all the major physical areas of the game – speed, strength, endurance & flexibility.

But…….this is not as easy as it seems.

To be effective, the program must do several things.

1. Fit the demands of the game

As I mentioned before, tennis is a sport that demands a lot from the player (especially from the higher level player).

But you don’t have to be Roger Federer or Rafa Nadal to need a tennis specific program.

Your training workouts & program need to reflect what happens on the tennis court so things like too much jogging for your endurance training will only make you slower on the court – no good!

2. Fit the needs of the player

The program needs to fit the player it is designed for in several ways.

Think about it, you wouldn’t want to train yourself the same way Andy Murray trains (well you probably would want to !!) – but it just wouldn’t work.

Andy Murrays fitness levels are probably much much higher than yours, so it would be impossible to train at those intensities even if you wanted to.

Also, he may have a completely different game style to yours and therefore it would prove counter-productive to train the same way.
Remember the point above – training must be specific!

3. Consider the way a player will be affected by the training

This is one that is often overlooked.

Training of any sort will affect the way you are able to perform.

Let’s look at the best case scenario.

Let’s assume you do some strength training and become stronger.
You will then begin hitting the ball harder and if you don’t adjust something you will begin to keep putting the ball out.
This will call for an adjustment in technique (i.e. adding more spin to your shots) to keep the ball in.

If you plan for this in advance then you will be ready.

4. Be able to develop in the long term as well as the short term

The workouts and program you decide to follow, may well be ok for a couple of weeks or even months, but if you are like most players you will be playing for many years.

If your program cannot be adjusted at regular intervals to help you improve over time then you are leading yourself up a blind alley.

5. Be linked into a simple testing structure

Again often overlooked.

If you never test or measure what you are doing, how do you know that you are improving (or even getting worse)??

Is it enough to “feel” you are improving?

By having a simple set of tests that you can perform on a regular basis and a programme that can be changed to reflect the results of these tests you will be well placed to keep your rate of improvement high over time.

Without these things in place it is unlikely that the program will be effective.

But that doesn’t apply to you now does it

Good Luck!!

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