BLOG: Improve your tennis game by improving your movement

With Wimbledon well into its second week, I wonder whether you’re enjoying the strawberries and cream as much as you have been enjoying watching Brit Cameron Norrie play his way through the tournament.

Tennis has evolved over the last 20 years since the emergence of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic (pictured below) and Rafa Nadal bringing a new style to the game, longer rallies and therefore improved fitness levels too.

We have seen some of the game’s best returners of serve over the last 20 years, increasing the length of points and the endurance required to win matches.

See how the table below shows longer rallies in finals involving players who are fast around the court, busy and fitter than some of their challengers.

Therefore, movement efficiency is key to conserving energy and reducing injury possibility. Our sports therapists and sports physios can analyse and assess your movements to improve your efficacy and quality of movement.

Some key movements for tennis players are lunging, overhead stability and core power and we have placed a quick description of these drills on Instagram here.

To improve your game, our therapists will specifically analyse your movements with functional tests and the wonderful Gatherer Systems.

At Optimum we can transfer our experiences of working in professional cricket with Derbyshire CCC to analyse shoulder action, landing and jumping techniques from British Ski and Snowboard to check lunging form as well as core power from our days working with Worcester Warriors RFC and Edinburgh RFC.

If you want to improve your tennis game this summer, see what Optimum can do for you.*

* We can’t coach backhand by the way!

READ MORE: Blog - What’s the difference between a sports therapist and a physiotherapist?