3 Essential For Off Court Tennis Training

There is no magical formula guaranteeing that you will become a professional tennis player. However, there are vital areas that must be addressed and worked on if you want to give yourself the best chance at success. In this blog, I will discuss 3 of the most crucial areas to get right in order to set yourself up with a great shot of making it and getting the most out of yourself.  

3 Essential Off-Court Tennis Training Areas
Players Must Focus On 

Most people are aware of what we need to be focusing on when developing players on the court. Some of these areas include:

• Sound technique
• Correct footwork patterns
• Balance
• Efficient movement
• Patterns of play
• Defense
• Offense
• Weapons
• Serve + 1 and Return +1

But an area in which coaches & parents frequently lack knowledge is the off-court stuff. How to help their player build a foundation and make sure they are strong enough to perform the tennis drills we are asking them to do.

If we take a closer look at off-court tennis training, our expert partner Tennis Fitness says that three of the most important areas to focus on first as a player are;

1. Flexibility/Mobility - Creating optimal flexibility ranges and allowing your body to effectively get in and out of positions on the court. 
   
2. Strength - Improving muscle strength will provide many positives for you as a player, some of these positives include; injury prevention, quicker movement, the ability to develop more power, increased balance, and better body control. 
   
3. Stability - Having adequate stability around your main joints used in tennis is important for protecting them against injuries and also provides better balance and control through moving and hitting. The main joints that should be targeted are the shoulder, hip, ankle, and knee. 
   
   

If we are hitting these areas with the correct tennis-specific programming and structure, everything will improve (tennis footwork, balance, power, and endurance). 

These are what we call the foundation areas. When we combine off-court tennis training in these three areas with effective on-court tennis drills, we are well on our way to solid progress! 

When we get them right and work in the areas consistently, we create a solid foundation to build; increased power, dynamic movement, and stamina. 

If you try and bypass these areas, you are bound to come unstuck (get injured, burn out, or get minimal results). 

It is like learning to drive and going from having a handful of driving lessons, then straight onto the racetrack, screaming around at top speed. You will be way out of your depth and have little control, there is a good chance you will crash the car or slow right down and feel hopeless. 

The same applies to on-court practice. Every player needs to learn how to control their body and hit the ball straight with control before they get complicated. We see a lot of young players trying to do drills that are too advanced for them. When this is the case players often get down on themselves because they feel they cannot do anything right. To be honest, having been a pro player myself and having worked with many top players as a coach, one thing I know is that the players at the top level still work on the basics daily. They continually work on their foundation during on-court sessions. The foundation first needs to be built and then it needs to be maintained when you are experienced or a pro player. 

Here are some tips to get these areas right.

On-Court Tennis Training (Tennis practice)

Work on controlling the ball. An example of this is being able to repeatably hit the ball in a straight line, landing it in a set space. Once a player can develop this skill they can move onto more complex hitting lines and angles. This is the most basic drill that requires good racket control, depth perception, and concentration. It is how you develop good control of the ball. Sounds really basic and it is, but building this on-court foundation and always coming back to it the more experienced you get will enable you to add more advanced drills and build confidence in your shots. I can promise you that! 

Off-Court Tennis Training (Tennis fitness) 

We touched on the 3 areas you should be focusing on when building the physical foundation and the benefits you will get from improving them.

So you can get an understanding of these crucial areas, here are some examples. 

Flexibility/Mobility

Strength

Stability

I realized a long time ago how important it was to build the right foundation both technically and physically. Having known the team at Tennis Fitness for over 20 years and realizing we have the same mindset on this, it made sense to us to bring something to the tennis community that brings the on-court and off-court foundation-building principles together. 

Tennis fitness and The WTCA have joined forces to bring you a combined on-court and off-court program, covering all you need from; on-court tennis drills, tennis strength exercises and stability exercises, tennis warm-up, tennis flexibility, and tennis endurance. 

Yep, you got it all in one spot - Your Complete Tennis Development Program!

Learn “The basics” and build the foundation that will be there long term.
To find out more go here 👇👇👇
https://www.memberstennisfitness.com/complete-tennis-development

Even the top pros do basic drills all the time. They go back to their foundation and work on essential, basic effective drills that they can build on. 

So if this blog makes sense to you and you are ready to help build the foundation for any players you work with, then we are ready for you! 

I hope you enjoyed these tennis tips, whether you work with tennis kids, adults or anyone else, getting the combination of on-court and off-court training is critical for long-term growth and success on the court. 

Cheers everyone!!!