Tennis career is a long-term process. Professional tennis players have longer careers than ever before and it is not surprising to see them competing after 35^th birthday. Recreational players have even bigger opportunity to stay competitive because there are many tournaments created for different age groups. To constantly improve and achieve good results players have to learn every day. Does it have to happen only on the tennis court? Not at all!

Marcin Bieniek

Learning new things is an important aspect in all areas of life. It doesn’t matter whether you are an athlete or a businessman if you want to improve and achieve good results you have to educate and broaden your knowledge. In tennis it is super important to constantly look for ways to improve different areas of the game. Development includes technical, tactical, physical and mental skills so there are many opportunities to get better in all these sectors.

Modern world provides numerous opportunities to learn. Tennis players can learn from coaches, books, YouTube, online educational websites and many more. Many years ago that wasn’t possible but right now we have access to great knowledge at anytime and anywhere in the world. Learning doesn’t happen only on the tennis court so players should always look for ways to improve own skills even  while being on the bus or while watching TV. Unfortunately too many times players are not interested in extra education and they don’t use these opportunities to get advantage over opponents.

Athletes are specific. They go through tough regimen every day to increase own chances for achieving own dreams. It doesn’t matter whether you play tennis or you play hockey your mentality and approach to sport is pretty much the same. That’s why it is important to look at athletes from other sports and try to find something that can help our own game. Honestly, there is a lot for tennis players so they should be aware of that and use free time to follow other athletes.

Let’s quickly focus on 3 sports: ski jumping, boxing, and basketball.

I follow ski jumping really closely because polish jumpers are on top and I can tell you that there is a lot other athletes can learn from them. For me it is really interesting to see how ski jumpers approach nutritional aspect. They are aware that their body is their machine and they have to keep it in optimal shape. They take care of what they eat and how much they weight because these factors have crucial impact on their results. How many tennis players take this topic as seriously as they do?

Another sport that provides lessons for tennis players is boxing. When you think about boxing you think about muscles, power, blood and KO’s. That’s nice but tennis players should take a closer look at these guys’ footwork. Boxing champions move really well because they understand that they need proper position to punch well. Without good movement their punching skills are not effective. The same happens in tennis. Even when you have great forehand or volley if you don’t move well you will not use your strengths to win points.

The last sport is popular especially in the USA. Basketball means NBA. NBA means LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry. What do these guys do every day? Yes they practice basketball skills but they also spend significant amount of time in the gym. They have to play few tough matches every week so their bodies have to be ready for that. When they are well-prepared physically they can show their best game as also they can avoid potential injuries. What about tennis? It is the same story. Top players compete 2-3 weeks per month so they have to keep their bodies ready to have long careers. If you want to achieve this goal you can’t stay away from consistent physical practice.

If you want to reach your tennis dreams you have to put a lot of effort every day. You can spend 2-4 hours per day on the court but to achieve your potential you have to also look for improvements off the court. Even while you are watching TV you can still do something for your game. From time to time watch other sports and see what you can learn from them to take your performance to the higher level.

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