Play Tennis Like the Pros

World-class athletes, including professional tennis players, have knowledge of their sport and also expertise in how to train and push themselves to achieve the ultimate performance. The average person will never match the training regimen of a professional athlete, but you can get some tips that will help you at your level.

Stretch
When you watch tennis on TV, you may see the players come out for a quick warm-up before their match, but what you don't see is the preparation they've done prior to the match. In order for your body to perform at a high level, your muscles need to be warmed up and ready to move. The very first thing you should do before hitting a tennis ball is stretch out your body. Tennis requires motion from every major muscle group, so you should focus on those areas - neck, shoulders, arms, legs, back. Stretching only takes a few minutes, and it's a few minutes well spent to prepare your body for any type of exercise, especially tennis.

Warm Up
How many times have you seen tennis players get out of their car, walk to the court and immediately start hitting the ball as hard as they can? This isn't generally a recommended approach to an ideal practice session. Your body needs to warm up before it is ready for intense exercise. Once you've stretched for a few minutes, start hitting short balls at the net or mid court, keep the pace nice and easy. Continue hitting controlled shots for a few minutes, not too hard, and then gradually pick up the pace and your movement. Your goal should be to elevate your heart rate slightly during warm up before you go full into your practice session.

Practice Practice Practice
Most professional tennis players, both men and women, practice on the court for 4-6 hours every day. All of that time is spent doing drills and playing practice matches, and it doesn't include the time they spend doing off-court training and working out in the gym. This doesn't mean you have to quit your day job to improve your tennis game, but you can take a tip from the pros and spend some quality time working your strokes. Since most of us are lucky to 4-6 hours a week on tennis, make sure you spend the time in your practice sessions working on specific areas of your game.

Off-Court Fitness
One of the best ways to improve your tennis game is to participate in other activities such as walking, running, swimming, weight training and aerobics. Most professional tennis players do some kind of cross training to improve their fitness level, endurance, speed and power. The key to off-court fitness is to find something you love doing (other than tennis), and fit it into your schedule on a regular basis. It can be as simple as walking for 20 minutes every day after lunch, or stopping by the gym after work to take an aerobics class. The pros spend 2-3 hours of their training time every day on activities other than tennis because they understand how important it is to their overall fitness. You can learn from what they already know, and improve your tennis game by adding variety into your exercise routine.

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