Tennis Exercises and Conditioning for Physical and Mental Toughness

Did you know that tennis is one of a handful of sports where the mental conditioning and toughness of the players, particularly for ranked professional players, plays as big or sometimes even bigger role in their success? It’s true. Being physically ready for the challenges of your tennis matches through proper exercises, both tennis exercises and conditioning, and general exercises like strength training and aerobic training is a given.

But preparing yourself for the mental challenges of the game is not something that most players do. The biggest reason is that your average tennis enthusiast is just out there to have fun and socialize with friends, business partners, or whomever. The next level of tennis enthusiast are the ones who put more effort in their tennis training, physical exercises and development of a more complete tennis game through endless repetition of practice drills.

If you want to bring your game to the next level, first of all make sure that you have a physical exercise regime in place and that you stick to it. This will greatly increase your odds of not losing matches simply because of physical exhaustion or injury. Next, work on preparing yourself for the mental challenge. Tennis is a sport where you have a lot of time to think in between the action. This thinking can easily start going in a negative direction if you miss easy shots or are getting overwhelmed by an opponent who is just having an “on” day.

When you need to, pause and regroup mentally. The point you just lost is over and done with. You’re nit getting it back. try to put yourself in the best possible frame of mind to win the next point. Don’t obsess with the current score or start projecting what you need to accomplish in order to win. Treat each point as an individual event. Your ONLY goal is to win that point. Once that goal is accomplished, your new goal is to when the next point.

Compartmentalizing points this way can help you from becoming overwhelmed, particularly if the score is not in your favor.

So there you have it. Proper tennis exercises and conditioning plus an emphasis on your mental preparedness can bring your game to a whole new level.