Tennis - a sociable activity
By Alexei Sharp
July is certainly a packed month on the sporting calendar with the Euro Footie championships having just ended (wipe away those tears, forza gli Azzurri), the Tour de France cycling in full swing and The Olympics starting later this month, but the jewel in the July crown most years must surely be the tennis at Wimbledon, which finished last Sunday, a game we can both love to watch and play!
If, as every year, watching the feats of the best tennis players in the world, clad in pristine whites on the glorious green grass, serve, volley and pass their way to glory in SW19 has inspired you to do likewise in SE22, SE21, SE24 and beyond, you couldn’t pick a better way to stay active whilst enjoying the balmy summer warmth outdoors.
Healthy heart
Depending on how you play the game, your cardio-vascular fitness should be enhanced, with all the running around chasing the ball. A recent study by Fitbit showed that recreational tennis players take on average over 10,000 steps during singles tennis and almost 8,000 steps during doubles play which equates to 4-5 miles & 3-4 miles respectively.
Agility, balance & brain health
With all the lateral movement, twisting and turning and having to react to changes in direction or your opponent’s excellent execution of the dropshot, your agility and balance will be challenged and maintained very nicely. Having to think, form strategies and skilfully handle the ball into the spots you are aiming for, takes extra brain function and there is a proven link of maintaining cognitive brain function and warding off brain diseases in later life by doing such activities.
Injuries to watch out for
Tennis can lead to the potential for all kinds of injuries from the feet up to the neck.
As always, at FitFor we advocate the use of supportive footwear to ensure you are exerting forces in the correct way from the bottom up. Good footwear can reduce the risk of lower limb injuries particularly affecting the ankles, knees and hips, and as there is so much quick lateral and acceleration/deceleration movements, it’s very easy to strain a leg joint.
Overstretch injuries can occur when over-reaching or slipping on courts trying to get to that ball that is just out of reach, which can affect muscles like hamstrings and groins particularly as well as ankle, knee and hip joints. Take extra care when courts are slick and slippery or if it’s cold.
Due to the amount of twisting and extending during tennis strokes, injuries to the back are commonplace but perhaps the most common injuries affect the playing arm, most often to the wrist, elbow and shoulder. If you use largely single-handed strokes, your shoulders, wrists and elbows are more susceptible to injuries such as tennis elbow (tendons in the forearm, caused by wrist extension under strong grip), and rotator cuff injuries to the shoulder caused by the high rotational element in serving, and topspin movements for forehand and backhand shots. Double handed forehands and backhands can reduce this injury risk and enable more control of your shots.
Exercises to enhance your game
A range of preparatory exercises are strongly advisable to focus on improving or maintaining flexibility, strength and agility. Always warm-up thoroughly and stretch before you play. Keep warm or cool depending on the conditions and ensure a warm-down afterwards (heading to the bar doesn’t count!).
Your fitness routine should consist of global strength exercises for the large muscle groups as well as specific strength exercises for movements around the wrist, shoulder and back. Agility exercises such as lateral hops or jumps, balance and plyometrics should also be employed.
If you are in pain to an extent that your game is being affected, then do seek treatment. If you are also unsure whether you are fit enough, why not consider a fitness fundamentals assessment (FREE to our gym members), which will give a thorough appraisal of your overall health and fitness.
We have a wealth of stretching, strengthening and tennis-specific exercises on our FitFor.TV platform
Sociable sport
Tennis is a wonderfully social sport and perfect to involve friends and family. It can greatly enhance your overall wellbeing and happiness and there are a number of excellent tennis clubs on our doorstep around the SE22 area. Wherever you live, you can easily search out some clubs to start playing and enjoying all the social benefits and amenities that clubs have to offer. As an added bonus tennis clubs also offer preferential ticket access to major tennis events including Wimbledon, so you can plan to attend Wimbledon 2022 as well.
The author is a co-founder of FitFor, is a former UK Decathlon champion, and loves watching and playing tennis.