Most tennis conditioning drills are not fun nor easy, but it’s purpose is beneficial in the long run. In fact, tennis drills for conditioning force the body close to it’s limits preparing the mind and body for the rigors of a competitive tennis match.

Tennis technique, strokes and strategy are only half of the equation needed to be a world class tennis player. The other half is physical tennis fitness, which can be improved upon through tennis conditioning drills.

Tennis Conditioning Drills at the Pro Level

In March of 2011, Novak Djokovic, the gifted Serbian player best known for his impersonations of his fellow tennis stars, played the world’s number one player Rafael Nadal in Miami at a tournament known as the “fifth grand slam.”

They split the first two sets and went toe to toe in the third, running all over the court in long rallies, chasing after each other’s most aggressive shots in a spectacular show of one-upmanship.

They went to a tiebreaker, where, inevitably, one had to win and one had to lose. The loser just ran out of gas a bit earlier than the other. And to everyone’s surprise, the loser was Nadal.

How could the world’s fittest and strongest player, a person who had been described as a physical freak of nature, get tired before Djokovic – a player who had a long history of withdrawals due to fatigue and injury?

When asked afterward what his secret was, Djokovic was coy, saying only that he had improved his fitness. But to the keen observer, it was clear that he had upgraded his whole training. He had identified, after a few years of trial and error, what specific set of tennis conditioning drills he needed to incorporate into his training. And in doing so, he had become the winner he always knew he could be.

The examples set by the top pros are something every ordinary player can follow. Whether you are a beginner, a college varsity player, a veteran club player or a weekend hacker, the benefits of doing tennis conditioning drills are always applicable. If you want to win more matches, getting fitter and faster is one way to doing it.

Tennis Conditioning Drills Help The Rest Of Your Game

There are some players who don’t have the best strokes or seem to have such an incomplete set of skills that you wonder how they will ever win any match. But if they are fit and fast, they can outrun and outlast their opponents and end up winning most of the time.

These players understand that tennis is not just a game of skill but also an athletic endeavor which requires an optimum level of fitness in order to perform at maximum potential. That being said, the main components of a setting up a program of tennis conditioning drills should include exercises that enhance a player’s strength, flexibility, speed, coordination, reaction time and stamina.

Improving one’s strength is valuable because it assists in developing the other aspects of overall fitness, especially speed. The modern game has become more power-oriented due to the high tech rackets and strings. In order to hit harder, a player has to get stronger. Proper technique is actually more important for this but at the same time; good strokes are also easier to learn if a player has a good base of physical strength upon which to develop these.

Strengthening the Core Body With Tennis Conditioning Drills

In tennis, the core muscles are the most important ones to strengthen if you want to develop more powerful strokes. When people hear core, they immediately think abdominals. It’s true that these are very important and need to be incorporated into any set of tennis conditioning drills.

These include sit ups, leg raises and exercises that develop the obliques for twisting the trunk. But there is another area that needs just as much attention – the back.

A very good exercise for the back, among many, is the so called Superman exercise.

The person lies flat on his or her stomach and raises his hands and legs off the floor, holding for 5-10 seconds. Repetitions are done depending on his or her fitness level. A close partner of core strength is core flexibility. The trunk has to be limber enough to twist and turn accordingly with each stroke. Accordingly, stretches that involve side, back and front bends along with trunk twists should be part of any set of tennis conditioning drills.

Tennis Conditioning Drills: Shoulders

The next important area is the shoulders. Shoulder presses and similar dumbbell exercises are excellent for the deltoids but the more important muscle group within the shoulder joint for any racket sport is the rotator cuff. There have been professional players whose careers have ended because of injuries to this group of muscles.

Concomitantly, the shoulders also need to be flexible. Stiff shoulders hamper the serve and overhead shots, as well as the groundstrokes. Stretching the shoulders regularly should also be included in the program of tennis conditioning drills.

Tennis Conditioning Drills: Wrists & Elbow

The arms are the most obvious body parts that should be strengthened for tennis. In particular, the wrists and elbow joints are prone to injury, especially with today’s more whippy strokes. Exercises that strengthen these joints are important and these include bicep and tricep exercises and wrist curls.

The muscles for wrist pronation and supination also need strengthening. This will help with developing a stronger serve and firmer volleys. Just like the shoulder, wrist flexibility is just as important, so these should be stretched properly as well

Tennis Conditioning Drills: Speed Drills

Speed is just as important, if not more so than strength. But in talking about the tennis conditioning drills for the lower body, strength training and speed training go hand in hand. You need to have strong legs in order to develop explosive leg power, which is how one develops more speed.

Exercises for the legs include squats, lunges and calf raises. The hips are also important, so different exercises for this area like leg raises (forward, sideward and backward) are all necessary. Like all other body parts, the legs and hips also need to be flexible.

You don’t necessarily need to be able to do a split but the hamstrings, quads, adductors, abductors and calves all need to be stretched and kept limber. Real speed training is another special set of exercises that need to be included as conditioning drills for tennis. These include shuttle runs, sprints and lateral movement drills.

Tennis Conditioning Drills: Reaction Time

Coordination and reaction time can be improved through drills like medicine ball tossing, ball catching and quick volley drills. Expectedly, these are more easily improved if there is a base of strength, speed and flexibility in place for the player already. Constant repetition of these drills is the only way to ensure that these skills do not erode over time.

Tennis Conditioning Drills: Stamina & Endurance

The last aspect of tennis conditioning drills involves improving one’s stamina. There is no secret or short cut here. Aerobic exercises like running, swimming, cycling and cross-country skiing are recommended. A player should gradually start with just the right amount of aerobic exercise to raise his or her heart rate to its target heart rate.

If that means swimming only one lap at moderate speed, then that’s what he should start with. Additional laps can be added accordingly as his or her fitness and stamina improve. Stamina is so important in tennis because a best of three set match may last less than an hour if it is a straight set blowout or go for more than three hours if both players are really evenly matched. Each player needs to come to the court knowing that anything is possible and be ready for it.

Tennis Conditioning Drills: The Purpose

Most people try to take up sports because they think it is a fun way of getting fit. But if they get into a sport like tennis without first working on their fitness, they might just end up getting injured and unable to enjoy themselves. It makes more sense to improve one’s fitness in order to play a sport.

That way, they can learn quicker and have more fun in the process. Remember to always consult with a physician and a certified trainer before starting any physical fitness program. Lastly, be patient with your progress. Novak Djokovic already had a full team of coaches and trainers to help him get proper conditioning but it still took him a few years before he was able to he was able to win as many matches as he has been doing now. He always knew he could be a dominant player and he was patient with himself. You should too.

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Physical Tennis Conditioning

Tennis Footwork – Ladder drills

Ladder exercises is one way to improve your tennis footwork. There are several ways to do this tennis conditioning drill and we are going to describe 3 of them in this article as described below.

To start with this tennis conditioning exercise, you have to assemble a rope ladder on the ground or you can simple draw a ladder on a hard court using any marking material like white chalk. Draw several rectangles with a dimension of 38 cm2 joining then together to create a ladder.

Single leg run – all you need to do here is run forward with your ball touching the ground instead of your whole foot. The left foot steps on the first step and the right foot step on the second step. In doing so, be sure not to catch any of you feet with the rope or with the chalk. Everybody is familiar with how to do execute this jumping rope exercise because it is a very old exercise. This exercise may be outdated, but it is a very good way to tone up all the muscles in your body and develop your footwork. If you have not done this exercise, it might be a bit difficult for you in the beginning but as you practice it every day it will just come naturally.

Double leg run – In this tennis footwork exercise, you have to step both your feet in all the steps with the left foot first followed by the right foot. You have to execute the exercise as if you are running, so do the steps as fast as you can.

Double side step – This footwork exercise can be done in the same manner as the single or double leg run, but instead of facing forward, you have to do it sideways.

Endurance

Tennis conditioning serves multiple important roles in tennis. You should be fit to play tennis and not play tennis to get fit. In this way, you can minimize injuries. Tennis players need more than just power and strength, they also have to have the endurance to sustain long rallies and long matches. Thus they need to do tennis conditioning to help them develop their muscle endurance. To develop your endurance, ideally you should do a 30-minute cardiovascular activity three times a week. The level of the exercise depends on your level. Normally for beginners, the level should be lower. Be reminded though, that is it not advisable to do cardiovascular exercise before any match.

Power

Tennis players need strength and power to hit explosive and powerful balls to outplay their opponents. This is where true tennis conditioning exercises come in. The more intense the tennis practices and matches are, the more likely that the players incurred injuries. Thus exercises that develop strength and improve power on the tennis strokes are necessary.

Examples of these tennis conditioning exercises are weight training workouts and explosive leg workouts. Specifically, you can do short sprints and plyometric exercises. You can do the exercises once a week and again the number of hours depends on your level.

Most of the sprints workouts can be done on court and below are some of the basic on court sprint exercises.

Shuttle sprints – do the shuttle sprints in shorter distance first (from the baseline to the service line) and as the exercise continues do the sprint at a longer distance (from the baseline to the net)

Ball retrieval – this tennis conditioning is done by having many balls near the net. You have to sprint towards the ball and pick one ball at a time and return put it on the baseline. You can do this sprint exercise as many as you can.

Ball Throwing –this exercise can be done with a partner wherein you stand on the baseline with your back on the back fence. Your partner stands near the net (opposite court). As the exercise starts, close your eyes and your partner must throw a ball towards you. Once the ball is ready to be hit, your partner shouts as a signal for you to hit the ball and you have to hit the ball as fast as you can. This will develop your strength and quickness as you depend solely on the signal from you partner.

Around the court sprint – All you need in this tennis conditioning is a proper pair of shoes. You don’t need a racket or tennis balls. Before you start the exercise, position yourself on the baseline, then sprint towards the net, upon arriving the service box, you execute side step to your right as far as the sideline, when you reach the sideline, continue sprinting towards the net. When you are already at the net (right side), run as quickly as you can towards the center of the net, then execute sidestep towards the other side of the court, and then run back towards the baseline along the sideline.

Strength training

Strength and weight training is a big part of any tennis conditioning exercise regimen for tennis players of all skill levels. The level of exercise should be lower for young players than the mature players. A twelve years old kid who wants to be a competitive tennis player can already start this strength training for him to develop his strength even at a young age. This tennis conditioning includes exercises using body weights and stretchable bands. To be more effective, this conditioning should be done at least three times a week.

Stretching

Stretching is normally done before any tennis conditioning exercise or workouts. In tennis sports, stretching is also done before any match. This tennis conditioning aspect is very important especially in playing tennis where a sudden explosion of power is needed. Thus to condition your muscle to this situation, stretching is needed. Stretching is not only needed before a tennis match, you also need to do the stretching exercises after the game.

Mental Tennis Conditioning

Tennis is a game of eyes and hand alertness and for perfect executions of you tennis strokes, both your eyes and hand must work hand in hand. The lists below are examples of tennis conditioning exercises to improve your hand-eye coordination skills and your speed.

Drop the ball – To perform this coordination exercise, you need a partner to work with you. Both of you stand in front with each other, the distance is just enough for you to hit the ball with your racket. Both you and your partner hold the ball in your hand. What you need is a racket while your partner just needs balls. Your hold the ball in front of him and drop it without any warning from him. What you need to do is hit the ball before it reaches the ground.  

Keep the balloon on air – All you need in this tennis conditioning exercise is your racket and blown up balloons. Throw two balloons up in the air and aim not to land the balloons on the ground. Thus you have to hit each balloon alternately either with your racket or if needed you can kick them with your feet.

Quick hand exchange – In this exercise your need a racket and tennis balls and a solid wall. You have to hit the ball in the wall but instead of using only one hand, use your two hands alternately. As the exercise continues move forward to the wall to lessens the ball travel and test your eye-hand coordination.

Ball over shoulder – this tennis conditioning exercises can be done with a partner and all you need is your racket. To start this tennis fitness exercises, you stand in the service box facing the net. Your partner on one hand positions himself on the baseline. Without your knowledge, he will throw a ball through your shoulder and you need to hit the ball as quickly as you can and land the ball across the net.

Off balance recovery– To get the best out of this exercise, you should do it in an unstable surface like a trampoline. This is because the purpose of this exercise is for you to quickly change your position when you get off balance as a result of trying to hit a ball.

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If you want to jumpstart your forehand and play like the PROS, check out my 70+ page Tennis Ebook that will immediately show you how you can take your forehand to the next level.

The Modern Forehand Domination Ebook is guaranteed to improve your tennis technique, and increase power, topspin and accuracy of your tennis forehand!

Modern Tennis Forehand Ebook
Learn How to Hit a Forehand Like Federer, Nadal and Djokovic

The post Tennis Conditioning Exercises to improve your footwork appeared first on Tennis Instruction.