If you are not getting the basics right your game will be heavily capped. There are some areas you want to avoid as a tennis player. Below is a list of some that I feel are important to get right.

7 Tennis Training Don'ts

1. Bad Punctuality  

   Being consistently late for training has a lot of negative ramifications for your game. First of all your coach/trainer will get frustrated and can lose motivation and focus, I know it has with me in the past, as a tennis trainer subconsciously when players are showing up late consistently I ask myself how much do they want this and how much do they respect what I am doing.
   
   You also lose precious time that you could have used to improve, if you consistently show up 5min late for 1 year, which adds up to a lot of missed lessons, costing you money and the chance to become a better player. The thing with punctuality is that it is about attitude and you can control when and where you are going, so control what time you get yourself to...

Tennis elbow is one of the most common tendinopathies affecting the elbow and can be a tricky condition to fix.  Have you had pain on the outside of the elbow that won’t go away, despite doing all the right things? If so, we will take you through a couple of steps that can help make all of the difference. 

WHAT IS TENNIS ELBOW?

Not everyone who gets tennis elbow actually plays tennis, and it is not very common in professional tennis players.  It can, however, affect recreational tennis players, particularly when they hit a backhand or anyone who performs repetitive movements using the wrist.  Tennis Elbow is a degenerative condition that affects the extensor carpi radialis brevis tendon (ECRB).  A tendon attaches a muscle to bone, and every time you extend your wrist, you use this muscle, which pulls on the tendon attachment. 

The tendon is made up of a number of threads of collagen.  There are a natural injury and repair process that...

First of all, the team at Tennis Fitness want to send out our sincerest thoughts to everyone in our community that has been affected by COVID 19, especially to the families of those who have lost loved ones. These are very challenging times!

Today I want to give you some tennis training tools and tips to help you navigate through the COVID road ahead, so you can keep yourself motivated and sane!

I wanted to write this blog to help as many tennis players as possible do their best to maintain their fitness, mental health, and motivation. Over the past 6 months, we have received countless emails from players who have been affected by COVID restrictions, many asking for guidance with their training and motivation. We have particularly felt for players living in extremely cold temperatures who rely on indoor tennis as a means of exercise and mental stimulation.

To accommodate and do our bit to support the greater tennis community we designed an online tennis program that people can do...

Training with bands is from my point of view one of the most underutilized training modalities going round! Resistance bands are one of the best tennis equipment for players.

They’re lightweight, portable, durable, and have a tonne of uses for the Weekend Warrior, right through to the Seasoned Pro. 

When I train the body I look at it from a number of angles when it comes to exercise and equipment selection;

• What kind of Stimulus does the exercise/equipment elicit? (Strength, Power, Endurance, Stability, etc)
• What kind of Forces do you need to overcome with it? (Body Weight, External Load, Gravity, etc) 
• What specific Body Positions does it teach? (Retracted Scapula, Neutral Spine, Braced Core, etc) 

Resistance Bands have a unique influence on all 3, and that's why I love them and use them on a daily basis. 

If I was to wear my High-Performance hat for a second and think about the tennis scene, there are 4 key areas that a High-Performance...

How to stay healthy and enjoy playing tennis for life. 

One thing that I love about tennis, is that it brings people together, it is a game for life.  Studies have shown, that people who play tennis live longer, so why would you ever quit?  People quit when the game is no longer fun.  Suffering from an injury is not fun!  I have had the privilege of working with the Rogers Cup WTA tour over the past twenty years. By far the most common reason that the pros retire from the tour is the emotional fatigue that comes from dealing with injury after injury. It’s not just the pros that are plagued by injury, just look around the courts and notice how many people have a strap on their elbow, or compression sleeve on their knee or ankle.  So why are injuries so common in tennis?

Two types of common tennis injury:

First of all, there are two types of tennis injuries, acute and chronic.  An example of an acute injury is when you fall on the court...

Having been tennis trainers for over 20 years and worked with a diverse range of players from tennis professionals to tennis kids, we have seen a lot. We have also found some major missing links in players' tennis strength and conditioning programming and training. These are areas we are always trying to address and educate coaches, tennis parents, and players on. Getting the balance right is important and finding a way to keep players consistent is tough for most.

Aside from the missing links we find in the tennis training space, we have highlighted the need for players to understand the importance of building their game around 3 key areas. These 3 key areas need to be balanced and all functioning together in order to produce the best tennis results and create the best development pathway.

No matter your age or level of play, if you want to boost your performance, win more matches, remain injury-free, and stay motivated then you should be aware of these areas and be doing...

Most people struggle to improve their tennis conditioning (recovery between points, endurance) on a consistent basis. They get to a point where things plateau or even worse tennis injuries occur. Is that you? Maybe you have been there before. 


Having been tennis fitness trainers for over 20 years, we have found this can be due to a number of factors (poor technique, doing the wrong training, motivation, knowledge, application, attitude). I have found that when some simple questions are asked, players know at least 3 things that they can do better straight away to help them improve how they train and apply themselves to their conditioning training.


Finding these 3 things can get players going, boost their motivation, and push them forward. They are often simple things (you don’t want to get too complicated). It’s the realization that they can create change instantly, that is enough to shift their thoughts and will get them seeing things differently,...

If you have been following us for a while, you will know we are big on strengthening athletes, getting them flexible and mobile.

These are always our initial priorities no matter the age or tennis capabilities of the player.

Most people have a good understanding of what tennis strength training is and almost everyone knows about flexibility.

What about mobility? What is it, what are the benefits of having healthy mobility ranges and how do you improve it?

Let me briefly explain these answers from my own experience and understanding.

Mobility relates to joint movement and also what we call “The kinetic chain”.
Chain of movement, rather than an isolated hold. 

Imagine a chain laid out on the ground. Each chain piece represents a joint. Now if we needed the chain to function at full capacity we would need each piece to be loose and free to move adequately right? Otherwise, other pieces will have to do extra work, or the fused piece will get damaged. This is how...

At Tennis Fitness we are all about education. We don’t know everything, that's for sure, what we have learned along our journey, we like to pass on. We encourage you to do the same! 

We wanted to give you some useful Tennis Tips as well as other helpful tennis information on how you can get the most out of yourself, your coach, and your team. Give them a go and we are sure you will feel the difference!

 Tennis Tips

Tip 1 – Tennis Warm-up 
If you are not warming up before practice or matches you are costing yourself both time and money. An effective tennis warm-up before the start of practice will save you both time and money, here is why. If you walk on court ready to go, instead of warming up with your coach, you will get up to 20% more out of the session.

You might waste 10-15min warming up with your coach, that time could be used more productively. We always have our players implement their tennis conditioning drills into...

When we were running our tennis gym in Sydney, we had many young athletes who would come through the doors. One of my missions with young players was and still is to turn them into problem solvers. 

Some work it out quicker than others, the ones who generally learn this necessity slower are the ones who generally have the parent, coach, or tennis trainer always doing things for them. 

A classic example:  one day a young kid came in for his 3^rd session, he was 10. I was finishing a session and told him to go on the bike for 2min, then skip for 2min, little did he know this was a test for him and his mother.   

He looked around and I said "the bike is down there, do you remember I showed you how to use it the last 2 weeks" The weeks prior I showed him how to set it up and get going.

Was he listening? I ask myself – How teachable is this kid. 

He wouldn’t move, I turned my back and continued to finish the session. 

He slowly...