Winter Warm Up: Dusting Off Your Tennis

For most of the US the whether is just starting to warm up, and I'm sure all of you are just as excited as I am to get out in the sunshine and play some tennis again! Few things are more satisfying to me than getting outside to participate in some kind of physical activity, especially when it's competitive in nature.

For a lot of people outdoor tennis is all that's available to them, or maybe they're just not able to afford the pricey indoor courts at a local club during the colder moths of the year. Either way it's very often challenging to get back into the swing of things after a long period away from the game. Today I'm going to write an article covering the four main obstacles you'll face as well as the best ways to overcome them if you're just getting ready to get back into tennis after a long winter break.

Physical

Alright, be honest, have you done your best to keep in shape during the off season? If you haven't don't feel badly, it's difficult to stay motivated to work out and stay in optimal shape during the winter. Even if you have made an effort to do so, it's very difficult to duplicate the dynamic movements and variety of physical skills needed to keep your body in tennis playing shape. So one way or the other you'll probably have to get yourself back to playing shape quickly. Here's a few things you can do to get your body ready for hitting the courts.

1. Jump rope. Jumping rope is excellent exercise and will work several different areas essential to your tennis play at the same time including: calves, ankles, eye-hand coordination, and cardiovascular endurance.

2. Agility ladder. I love the agility ladder, we have three of them here at the club and I often use more than one at a time when doing cardio tennis drills. If you're not familiar with this product check out this video showing some sample drills: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTN7MPFNZ00&feature=related

3. Cross training. By playing other sports you can target different skills relevant to tennis and keep them sharp. My personal favorites are basketball, racket ball, paddle tennis, and badminton. All of those sports have strong conditioning elements as well as footwork/agility and hand-eye coordination.

Technical

Fully expect that after a long break from the courts your technique is just not going to be what it was before. Tennis is a very complicated sport, made up of countless motions and motor skills. Without regular practice our feel, timing, creation time, and muscle memory all suffer.

Unfortunately the only really good way to combat this is just to get back out onto the courts again as soon as possible, and as often as possible once you do get going. When you do get out there and start to hit make sure that your practice time is well spent and focused. Give yourself specific targets to aim for, and a specific goal to obtain for each stroke that you drill. For example, rally cross court forehands with your practice partner until you've both hit 20 of them inside the singles court and past the service line. This kind of purposeful repetition will get your game back to feeling normal much more quickly than just "hitting around" without any focus.

If you have the ability to, go take a group or private lesson from a certified tennis professional. They'll give you practice in a more controlled environment, and can suggest ideas to help improve your technique and strategy as well.

Mental

In my opinion it's very important that in general you don't come back to the court with unreasonable expectations. Often times I have private lessons with players who have taken several weeks or even months off without hitting at all who are annoyed and even angry at their performance on the court. I'm not saying that you should expect the worst, and go out with a negative attitude, hitting the net with ground strokes and thinking "see! I knew I'd be no good!". But on the other hand you must realize that you simply won't perform at 100% your first time out after a long break, and most likely not for several other practice sessions after your first one either.

One of my favorite things to talk about mentally is just the simple ability to appreciate being on a tennis court in general. You're outside for the first time this year, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, the air is fresh. You get to run around outside and participate in a sport that you love! Rather than set your focus on performance and how good or bad you feel your first few times out keep in mind how great it is just to be there instead. Eventually I want you to shift your focus over to your performance, but only after you've given yourself ample time to get comfortable on the court again.

Equipment

This one is kind of a no brain-er, but I wanted to make sure I covered it quickly. If your racket has been sitting in the garage or (God forbid) in the trunk of your car for five months it should definitely be re-strung. Tennis string naturally loses it's tension and feel over time, make sure that before you head out and play for the first time some fresh string is put in. If you have more than one racket get them all done at once so that if one breaks two months from now you're all set.

Other equipment to check includes: grip, sunglasses, hat, sunscreen, water bottle, and shoes!

By following some of the suggestions above I hope that your transition into the outdoor season is smooth and pleasurable.