Best Exercises for Tennis Players

Have you ever thought about what the best exercises for tennis players are? Or, what training will yield the best results? 

Tennis requires an extraordinary level of physical fitness to keep up with the game’s unique combination of explosive movements, endurance, and core strength. Specific exercises should be included in training to improve performance on the court. In this post, we’ll go over some of the best workouts for increasing a tennis player’s strength, speed, agility, and injury prevention. 

From resistance band exercises to plyometrics and medicine ball drills, we’ll go over a wide range of workout techniques designed to improve all of the athletic skills required for top-tier tennis.

Best Exercises for Tennis Players

Tennis is a physically demanding game that involves strength, speed, agility, and endurance. Here are the top exercises for tennis players to increase their general fitness and performance on the court:

1. Standing T

When your shoulders are tense, you tend to overcompensate with your arms, which causes tennis elbow. Perform standing Ts to reduce your chances of developing this common tennis disease.

How To Do It:

Stand bent at the waist, keeping your back flat and your chest high. To create a T, pull your shoulder blades back and down while raising your arms alongside your body and above your head.

Return to the beginning position and repeat for a total of 10 repetitions. The movement should be initiated by the shoulder blades rather than the arms. This enhances rotational movement while simultaneously counteracting the harmful effects of sitting.

2. Drop Lunge

Drop lunges increase lateral mobility and agility, which are important in tennis.

How To Do It:

Stand tall and in an athletic position. Move your left foot back and behind your right foot, placing it approximately two feet to the right and behind your right foot. Square your hips and return to the beginning posture. Then, while keeping your weight on the heel of your front leg, slowly lower yourself into a squat. Do not allow your front knee to slide past your toes. Stand up and return to your starting position, then repeat on the opposite side. Do 10 repetitions on each side of the switch.

3. Lateral Lunge

This maneuver also increases lateral mobility.

How To Do It: 

Step to the left side and drop your hips by crouching back and down with your left leg, keeping your right leg straight. Push up with your left leg to get back to where you started. Switch directions and perform the movement for 10 reps on each side. In addition to stretching the inner thigh of the straight leg, you’ll feel it exercising your quads, hamstrings, and glutes.

4. Handwalk

This is a great full-body stretch that connects the upper and lower bodies, which is essential for swinging a racquet smoothly.

How To Do It:

Put your legs straight up and stand. After lowering yourself to a kneeling position, put your hands on the ground in front of you. Step up to your hands with your feet while keeping your legs straight. When you feel a stretch, ground your feet and move your hands out in front of you into a pushup stance. Take small steps utilizing only your ankles and avoid bending at the knees. Repeat for a total of 10 times.

5. Medicine Ball Toss

This move improves total power.

How To Do It:

Standing with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees just bent, and hips back, grasp a medicine ball beneath your waist with straight arms. Maintaining a straight arm position, lower yourself into a squat. Exit the squat by springing up and launching the ball as high as possible. Once you’ve recovered the ball, go back to where you were. Repeat for 10 reps.

6. Knee Hug

Stretching your front leg’s glutes and hamstrings, as well as your back leg’s hip flexors, will increase your lower-body flexibility and mobility, as well as your tennis speed.

How To Do It:

Lift your right knee to your chest while standing, then grip below the knee with both hands. Cinch your left glute while bringing your right knee up to your chest. Step forward again, then repeat on the other side. Perform 10 reps on each side, alternating.

7. Medicine Ball Overhead Slam

This will help you develop explosive upper body power, which is required for effective tennis performance.

How To Do It:

Stand in an athletic pose with a medicine ball at your waist level. Raise the ball straight ahead of you, above your head. Use your core to hurl the ball into the ground in front of you. During the throwing motion, the feet may leave the ground. Repeat ten times in total.

8. Medicine Ball Parallel Throw

You can increase the speed and force with which you swing the racket by engaging in exercises that enhance your energy storage and release capabilities.

How To Do It:

Face a concrete block wall approximately 3 feet away. Keep the ball at hip height. Turn your body away from the wall and launch the throw by pushing the hip, torso, arms, and ball in that order. Catch the ball with one hand under it and the other behind it, keeping your arms slightly bent. Repeat 10 times, then swap sides.

9. Foam Rolling

Foam rolling involves deep compression to release muscular spasms and imbalances that have developed over time. Compression relaxes the nerves, loosens muscles, increases blood flow, and aids in the recovery of the body after workouts and daily activities. Like a professional massage, foam rolling will cause some discomfort. Use the roller wherever you feel tight and need a massage. The foam roll not only corrects muscular imbalances, but it also serves as a good indicator of the health of your muscles and connective tissues. Recovery is an important component of tennis, and the foam roller will help you get back on the court quicker.

10. Trigger Point

A ball can help you improve your game even if you are not playing tennis. This “trigger-point therapy” will help relieve chronic foot discomfort and fascial tightness, which are caused by ordinary activities, but notably by playing on hard tennis surfaces. According to Eastern medicine, this practice enhances overall health.

How To Do It:

Store a tennis ball beneath your desk. While standing or sitting, take off your shoes and roll over the tennis ball back and forth, putting pressure on the arch of your foot.

Best Strength Exercises for Tennis Players

Tennis players can do a variety of workouts, but the drills listed below will provide a full-body workout. They concentrate on all of the core muscular groups required for the sport. If you believe your strength could be improved in a specific area, simply train more in that area.

These are a few functional workouts suitable for tennis players.

1. Ball Squeeze

This is a traditional tennis wrist exercise. Squeeze and release a ball (a tennis ball would do) twenty times, then pause and repeat with the other hand. This tennis wrist exercise can strengthen your forearm and enhance your endurance for forehand and backhand shots.

2. Jumping Exercises

This is one of the best leg workout for tennis players. Line up a row of cones on the floor, a few feet apart, on your tennis court or in the gym. 

To complete the workout, jump quickly over each cone, being sure to land and take off from the front of your feet as quickly as possible. Once you’ve reached the front of the row, return to the beginning and repeat. This plyometric exercise can help you gain strength and explosive power. It’s also a fantastic tennis warm-up activity.

3. Rope Skipping

Skipping is one of the most effective tennis workouts. Pull on your, grab a skipping rope, and get ready to leap!

Set a goal for yourself, such as completing 150 rotations without pausing. As you gain confidence in skipping, you can experiment with different variations, such as hopping on one leg.

Rope skipping is an excellent all-around exercise for tennis players, but it especially improves cardio, response time, and balance.

4. Chest Press/press-up

A chest press is an excellent tennis exercise for developing strength in your chest, arms, and shoulders. 

A chest press is an excellent exercise for tennis players. It increases strength in your arms, chest, and shoulders, which is essential for serving and playing tough rallies.

5. Cable Rotation

Playing tennis frequently demands you to twist your core as you reach for the ball. This is why cable rotations might be an especially beneficial tennis exercise.

At your gym, position the cable machine at chest height and stand perpendicular to it. Hold the cable with both hands, just like you would a tennis racket. Perform reps with your front foot leaning forward, pushing the wire across your entire body. This tennis exercise can help you develop abdominal strength.

Best Gym Exercises for Tennis Players

Whether you’re training to be the next Djokovic or Williams, or simply want to defeat all your friends in a weekend game, a balanced gym workout plan will help you enhance your performance while also increasing your strength and conditioning. 

Read on to learn about some of the greatest gym exercises to incorporate into your weekly fitness routines, as well as a sample workout plan that includes a variety of these moves so you can start training right away.

1. Strength Training

Tennis players must develop entire body strength, which includes both upper and lower body strength, if they intend to smash, slice, and volley their way to court dominance. Strength training can not only improve your shot power, but it will also help you avoid injuries by keeping your muscles in good condition. 

To get the most out of each workout, stick to compound movements that engage numerous muscle groups at the same time. Squats, bench presses, deadlifts, overhead presses, and rows are a few excellent strength training exercises to incorporate.

2. Plyometric Exercises

Plyometrics are explosive motions that develop athleticism, power, and speed, making them ideal for lightning-fast reactions and a powerful serve. 

Box leaps, lateral bounds, and medicine ball throws are all great exercises for improving agility, quickness, and response time.

3. Core Work

Strokes such as forehands, backhands, and serves all require power to be transferred from your legs and hips to your arms and racquet, therefore, a strong core is vital for tennis players. Work your core muscles, especially your obliques, to maintain your strokes forceful and your body stable. 

Engage in exercises like planks, Russian twists, and hanging leg lifts to strengthen your core.

4. Agility and Foot Work Drills

Tennis players must be able to move fast and efficiently around the court, so incorporate drills and movement variations into your training. You’ll need to change direction quickly as you reach for your next stroke.

Ladder drills are excellent for developing footwork, or you can enroll in a bootcamp or circuit class for a heart-pounding workout that will keep you on your toes.

5. Cardiovascular Conditioning

Tennis is an endurance sport that requires a solid level of cardiovascular fitness – matches can run for hours, especially in a competitive situation. Regular cardio will help you maintain your energy levels, recover more efficiently, and lower the chance of weariness if you play for an extended period of time. 

Cardio sports such as running, cycling, high-intensity interval training, or rowing can help you gain energy and recover quicker between points during a match.

6. Flexibility and Mobility Exercises

Having a wide range of motion is very beneficial in tennis; it will help you reach for those difficult shots and keep you moving fluidly over the court. Flexibility aids in injury prevention, allowing you to play for longer periods of time. No matter how fit you are, your tennis performance will suffer if you are stiff as a board and flex your entire body while patrolling the court.

Stretching, yoga, or Pilates should be incorporated into your routine to maintain suppleness and improve range of motion.

7. Balance and Stability Training

Tennis requires continual changes in balance and body placement as you travel around the court to make perfect strokes every time. A stable base allows you to have more control every time you hit the ball, whether you’re serving, forehanding, or backhanding.

To improve on-court stability and control, try balance-challenging exercises like single-leg squats or stability ball exercises.

Access Tennis Fitness For Getting The Best Tennis Exercises

To find the ideal fit for your tennis objectives, browse through Tennis Fitness selection of customized programs. Each program blends cutting-edge fitness techniques with practical tennis drills, guaranteeing that you develop the strength, speed, and stamina required to dominate the court.

Final Words

This is our overall guide on the best exercise for tennis players. It is not possible to become the best tennis celebrity overnight. When it comes to developing your tennis game, consistency is key. You can’t get everything from one workout, one meal, or one night of sleep. It takes a long-term commitment. If you commit to yourself and your profession, you will see results quickly!

Frequently Asked Questions