Tennis Exercises and Conditioning - Balance, Footwork and Grip
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Filed Under Tennis Conditioning, Tennis Exercises
All of the hard work and effort that you put into your tennis exercises and conditioning are for one reason and one reason only: to gain a competitive edge on your opponent. Through proper exercises and conditioning you are able to improve your tennis fundamentals because your body is in better shape and better able to handle various unexpected return shots that you routinely will need to make.
For example, your footwork. Footwork is basically weight control, making sure that you are in balance and in the proper position for the strokes that you need to make for a winning return. Likewise racket grip is an essential part of making a good tennis stroke and hitting a winner.
In both cases, if your tennis conditioning is poor, your overall game will suffer because it will be difficult to maintain proper balance in the sometimes awkward positions that you find yourself in when making a return shot. Your grip and stroke will also suffer if you haven’t done the proper tennis exercises to maximize your hand, arm, and shoulder strength.
Of course it’s not essential that you be in championship form if your aspirations are only outdoor weekend tennis with friends. But proper exercises and conditioning can also reduce or eliminate injuries which can put your game hold for long periods of time, depending on the injury. And that can be a VERY frustrating experience - your head is ready to get back out on the court, but your body says “no”.
The best way to practice proper footwork is to hit a lot of return shots, either delivered by a coach, an instructor, a friend/opponent. or by tennis machine that can deliver consistent shots at consistent speeds and consistent locations. There’s nothing more important to improving one’s game than repetition of the basics of proper footwork, weight control and grip. That’s why you’ll see the best players on the practice court for endless hours hitting return shots. The machines make it easy to set up specific shots in specific locations and speeds and not have to rely on another person to be there. You could literally practice for hours and hours putting herself in various positions on the court while the machine shoots the ball at the same speed and location each time. Even if you haven’t kept up with your tennis exercise and conditioning, this type of practice will certainly help out in that area (whether you like it or not).
Proper tennis grip is mainly a function of hand strength, flexibility, plus arm and shoulder motion. A faulty grip can ruin the finest serve or return shot. One of the unique things about the game of tennis is that you very often need to change your grip depending on the type of shot coming at you and the return you want to make. These grip changes need to be quick and accurate. It used to be that a one-handed backhand was the norm, at least on the men’s circuit. Now you will rarely see any professional tennis player, male or female, using the single-handed backhand. Why? Because the two-handed backhand provides much more strength and accuracy.
Once you have proper footwork in place and you’ve done your strength exercises, your stretching and your warm-ups for conditioning, AND and you have your grip down, you now are in the best possible position to take over the match and come out on top. But always remember a shortcoming in any of these areas will be capitalized on by your opponent in short order.
Keep practicing those fundamentals, and you will be a force to be reckoned with on the court.
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