Tennis Wokrout?

Question

I'm a 16 year old player on my school's varsity team. I'm pretty good for not being really not working out that much, but I've been thinking that I want to step it up and take top varsity for next season. Along with working on my game, what would make a good workout and diet plan for maximum results.

By the way, I am actually underweight. I need to put on some lean muscle mass and boost my cardio.

Answer 1

Footwork! The key to being a good tennis player is good footwork. We used to do lots of side shuffles. Sprints across the court from the doubles sideline to singles sideline touch and back to doubles sideline touch out to the middle hash touch and back to doubles sideline and touch. Out to the singles and back. Out to the far doubles and back. Constantly. We ran that drill hundreds of times. And you ran it until you were going to drop. At my practice we kept it up until we nearly dropped. Stamina.

Also stand at the back of the court and have someone throw the ball just over the net as close as possible. See if you can sprint up and get it back over the net in one bounce.

Cardio. A lot of cardio exercises. A lot of jumping. If you can outlast your opponent, you can beat your opponent. Your opponent may be better than you for the first 2 games but if they give up after that--you get the next 4 games and win the set.

Learn to do an incredible drop shot. Practice your serve. If you have a varied serve, especially if you can get it to curve out you can win the games when you serve.

Also work a lot at the net. Get a ball machine to rapidly shoot at you while you volley them all back. If you can get to where you control the net, you will control the game.

Learn how to identify a weakness. The key difference b/t a varsity and a jv player is the ability to recognize the opponents weakness. We had a player that could not resist the overhead shot. She had incredible power--but uncontrolled. So if you lobbed it, she would go for it and more likely than not, it was out of bounds. If you can recognize that this person has low stamina--you run them. A weak backhand--you hit them nothing back backhands. They will over compensate by moving so far to that side (in order to hit it forehand) that a far shot to the forehand will have them on a really long sprint. Can't resist the overhead--you lob. You figure out their weakness and exploit it. You can't play the same game with every player. Tennis is definitely a game that is won or lost on the mental game.

Play with people a hell of a lot better than you. Someone that can beat you every single time. She may beat you every time but you are playing with someone so much better that it is turning you into a much better player than playing with something your competitive equal.

Answer 2

I agree with the phantom about many of the strategies (prior posting). A careful planning of resistance exercise (weightlifting) for all of the body (arms, legs, trunk) would be the smartest way to put weight on. I would be careful to couple this with the aerobic work and flexibility training. Tennis really requires all around capability, so good balance of training is essential. This training will also help you look and feel better in general, and this is good for the mental part of the game ( for both genders!).

Answer 3

I joined too!! But there's nobody on the chat right now... maybe we should organise when every1 will get in the chat, so that we all know when to enter.. oh, btw OIN I have sent you an email with an idea for a new Y!A game, reply to me when you can!