Best Exercises For Tennis Players

BEST EXERCISES FOR TENNIS PLAYERS FOR INJURY PREVENTION AND STRENGTH

An often overlooked part of tennis are accessory exercises off the court. While the best players in the world spend countless hours on the court, many also dedicate time in the weight room as well! This helps them to prevent many common injuries, increase power, and boost explosiveness. 

ROTATOR CUFF EXERCISES

How many shoulder injuries have you seen tennis players get? Chances are, if you're serving, hitting overheads, and returning topspin shots, you're eventually going to hurt your shoulder. Elevation of the arm combined with internal rotation of the shoulder leads to should impingement issues and grinding of the shoulder girdle. This is why rotator cuff work is crucial to healthy shoulders. The rotator cuff, located near your scapula, are a set of small muscles that help keep your shoulders in their natural position by "holding" them in place when your shoulder is placed into internal rotation.

Doing rotator cuff exercises that put your shoulders into external rotation will help to strengthen the rotator cuff by eliciting a concentric contraction. Rotator cuff work will also make your posture better. Here are some rotator cuff exercises that I would recommend:

-Band Pull-Aparts

-Face Pulls

-Rear-delt flys 

LEG EXERCISES

The second most common injury tennis players seem to get are knee injuries, and it makes sense. Think about all the running and high impact lunging on the concrete surfaces. It takes a serious toll on your knees, especially if you've been playing for years. This is why it's important to do exercises that will help increase the fluid and blood-flow to your joints, while not completely wrecking your knees. Another component is explosiveness. When you hit a shot, the majority of the power should be coming from the rotation of your hips. Doing exercises that increase the explosive power of your hips will drive up your ball speed on the court. Here are some safe exercises that I would recommend that won't wreck your knees or back, and will do wonders for your game:

-Step Ups

-Reverse Lunges (weighted or unweighted)

-Glute/Hamstring Raise

-Reverse Hypers

-Weighted Hip Bucks

CORE EXERCISES

Stability, rotation, and anti-rotation are key to tennis and the functions of the core. Doing exercises that train these functions will overlap into your tennis game, helping you to hit stronger shots and returns. Core work will also reduce the chances of a back injury, as core muscles keep your spine in place. Not only that, but your core is the base for power. You'll see weightlifters who are able to squat enormous amounts of weight, and this is due not only to strong legs but a bulletproof core. A great comparison to your core is a tin can. If it's stable and not dented, it can support a surprising amount of weight. But if there's one slight dent, it's weak and can't support anything. Here are some exercises that will increase your core's strength in those key functions:

-Banded Woodchoppers

-Weighted Planks

-Band Step-Outs

-Threading The Needle

Google these exercises to see how they are performed! 

The Underrated Benefits of Tennis Leagues

THE UNDERRATED BENEFITS OF TENNIS LEAGUES

Last week we discussed the importance of joining a tennis league to improve your game, however leagues do more than just provide more practice. 

After coordinating a large in-house tennis league for nearly 2 years, I learned that one of the main reasons people join and continue playing in a league is for the social aspect of it, especially in doubles leagues. You will meet so many people, creating many lasting connections. I can't tell you how many times I've seen players in a match chatting as they come off the court, setting up times to hit with each other. In fact, tennis leagues create lasting friendships and good business relationships. I've met several business connections through our tennis league. Many players will also join leagues with their friends which is a fantastic way to keep active and motivated.

Another benefit of tennis leagues is getting the chance to play a variety of people from other clubs, but for the reasons you might think. Take USTA Leagues and City League for example. People bring food and end up interacting with opposing teams from different clubs. By talking with them, you might end up learning about new programs, events, and opportunities (tennis related or not). You might hear about a great coach to take lessons from, social events, etc. Whenever we host a City League match, we see this type of exchange of dialogue all of the time. 

Now for a shameless plug:

Sign up has begun for the Winter Session of our own in-house league, the Portland Tennis League, which starts January 7th, 2019. What's nice about our league is that we will created matches for you based on your availability every week. How it works is we'll send you an email requesting your

availability for the following week, then send you the match schedule we create a few days later. We do all of the scheduling for our players, making the process of playing in a league very easy. All you have to do is show up! Our league features:

• Doubles
• Singles
• Mixed
• 8 Matches guaranteed

If you're interested, head over to www.portlandtennisleague.com

        

3 Ways To Improve Your Tennis Game

3 Ways To Improve Your Tennis Game

Tennis, like any sport, takes years to perfect. While you might be naturally gifted at the sport, you will reach a point where your tennis game plateaus. Here are 3 ways to consistently improve your game:

#1 JOIN A TENNIS LEAGUE

This I cannot stress one enough. While it's fun hitting with your buddies, playing the same few people will not help you improve at all unless they are significantly better than you. You need to play new people on a consistent basis.This will expose you to a wide variety of players each with various strategies and playing styles. By playing a range of players, you will be able to adapt to different playing styles quickly. By joining a tennis league, you will be playing new players every week.  This can be City League, USTA, etc. This sounds like a plug, but we have a fantastic tennis league with doubles and singles that I would highly recommend. They do all the scheduling for you and you generally play against new people every week. Can't beat that. Check it out here: www.portlandtennisleague.com

#2 GO TO TENNIS CLINICS, HIT GROUPS, GROUP LESSONS, ETC.

This ties back into playing and hitting with other people, however this won't necessarily be strict match play. Going to clinics and hit groups provides an additional benefit of having a tennis coach moderating and analyzing how you play and how you can improve. Most tennis coaches will also structure their clinics and hit groups to include skill work and agility drills. We have an entire City League team at our club who take group lessons from one of our coaches just to improve their game on league matches. 

#3 TAKE PRIVATE LESSONS

This one sounds redundantly obvious but it's so often ignored and overlooked. I'd bet money that at least half of the players reading this who want to improve their game do NOT take private lessons. If you want to really improve your game, this is a non-negotiable! Coaches will point out flaws in your technique & form, and tell you how to improve on certain areas that may be lacking. Additionally, they will help you work on whatever your specific goals are. Probably 99% (don't quote me on the statistic) of the top players out there take private lessons or have taken private lessons.

Top 5 Beginner Tennis Mistakes

Top 5 Beginner Tennis Mistakes

#1  High To Low

If there is any tennis phrase that has resonated with me, it's "low to high". Beginner's tend to hit high to low. So what exactly does this mean? The starting position before hitting a forehand or backhand should be lower than the ball. This will ensure that the ball will make it over the net. Unless it's an overhead or volley, shots that are hit from high to low typically end up hitting the net. 

#2  "No Man's Land"

We see this with beginners A LOT. The area between the base line and service line is known as "No Man's Land", and many beginner and intermediate players love to play in this area. Don't do it. Playing at the baseline allows you to react to difficult and well placed shots and playing at the service line/net allows you to intercept those shots before they bounce. Playing in "No Man's Land" won't give you the reaction time you need to hit deep and difficult shots, and you'll be too far away from the net to intercept those shots!

#3  Not Moving Your Feet

Believe it or not, you should keep your feet moving at all times. This allows you to react faster to well placed shots that you might not have been ready for. While you should have your feet planted on the ground when you hit the ball, you should be moving between shots.

#4  Not Taking Private Lessons

Taking private lessons from a professional can help you to perfect your game and correct any errors in technique. Years of playing using improper form ingrains bad habits which can lead to mistakes on the court, inaccurate shots, or even injury. You can always tell the difference between players who have taken private lessons and players who are self taught.

#5 Serving With The Wrong Grip

Often times you'll see many beginners serve using the same grip they'd use for a forehand. While this works for a small minority of players who know how to use it to their advantage, this type of grip will lead to many inconsistent shots. Beginner-intermediate players should use a continental grip. 

SUMMER LEAGUE 2018 BEGINS SOON!