Tennis is a lovely game and most of us love playing it. We all know winning is fun and for sure we all hate to lose. However, winning is not easy and it demands a lot of practice. Modern day tennis demands, speed , skill, strength and stamina and fortunately all of these four can be developed through proper training.
Demands of the game: Unlike a race, where you have a fixed goal to achieve, tennis is very much unpredictable. If you are Steffi Graf, you can mop up an opponent in less than an hour, whereas a men’s five setter can go on for four hours or more. This means you must be prepared for the worst eventuality, up to three hours for women and five for men. Endurance in such matches is a key factor, since when you get tired mistakes creep in and your attention starts to wander.
The surface you play on is important too because it can dictate the length of the rallies. On fast grass they tend to be shorter and more explosive, while on a slower clay surface they can last for 20 strokes or more, depending on your skill and your opponent’s. Once again, endurance counts.
Playing tennis for fitness, even on clay, is not the answer to aerobic conditioning. Strong and powerful legs, which can be developed through strength training both on and off the court and strong upper body is very important, particularly in the playing arm, back and shoulder region. Mobility and agility are the other key areas that you need to consider when analyzing a tennis player.
Phases of training: Peaking is not an important factor in tennis, at least not for professionals. If your goal is to win a club or county tournament, then the opportunity for peaking is far more possible. You may perform more endurance and basic strength development exercises during the off season, then concentrate more on agility and sharpness in the months approaching the event.
The training week: The structure of a tennis player’s training week differs from that of most other sports, partly because of the unpredictability factor already discussed. One may be relying on a week’s hard slog in a particular tournament and then get knocked out in the first round itself. In addition, much of the training week will be spent in hours of court practice, grooming the serves and drilling ground strokes down the line. Physical conditioning must be built carefully into this schedule so as not to interfere with the racket practice. Strength training should be aimed not only at toning the muscles involved but also at redressing the inevitable imbalances that can occur because of using one side of the upper body much more than the other, so as to help prevent injury.
In the weights room one should choose exercises to train muscles in the upper and lower body, particularly the legs, lower and upper back, shoulders and arms. Body weight exercises may also help these areas and the abdominals. Drills on and off court helps in improve the ability to move your feet quickly into the correct position, while short, intense shuttle exercises to increase speed, followed by adequate recovery to maintain quality, helps in covering the court quickly and effectively.
On court one can perform shuttles forwards and backwards, from baseline to service line and back, touching the ground with your hand at each turn. Moving from the centre of the court to the left hand tram lines, back and to the right hand tramlines quickly, always facing the net is another way of practicing fast, fluent court movement. Alternatively, a coach or friend can randomly call the direction for you to move, forwards, backwards, left, right, so that you practice changing direction quickly in response to the unexpected. There are also various types of tennis equipment that helps in such training.
Running is useful because you spend your time on court on your feet and exercises like, cycling and swimming helps in conditioning the heart and lungs without the wear and tear from pounding out the miles, and may be enjoyed as an active recovery.