Tennis offers many benefits for participants. Players who decide to take part in this sport can experience many advantages of going through the process of becoming the best athletic version they can be. There are many factors that have impact on player’s pace of development but there are also limiting factors that can lead to slow progress or stops in playing. One of them is injury.

Marcin Bieniek

Being a tennis player is definitely not an easy job to do. Modern game is based on complex skills so players have to sacrifice a lot of time and energy to meet requirements of competitive tennis. It is no longer enough to just get on the court, hit some balls and be ready to beat advanced opponents. Nowadays player has to take care of things both on and off the court. Starting from technical work and ending on proper food consumption details decide about final effects of player’s performance. Only by putting hard work every day in different aspects of complex development players are able to constantly improve own level and get closer to reaching own dreams.

Mistakes happen in sport all the time. Tennis players know it perfectly. Every practice session consists of a lot of missed balls. Some of them go long, some land wide and other can’t go over the net. Errors are made also from the nutritional point of view. Lack of proper hydration during sunny day or not eating post-training recovery meals are examples of actions that can have negative impact on player’s performance and sometime even on health. It is not possible to completely eliminate mistakes from athletic career but it is in player’s control to firstly limit possible mistakes and secondly to learn from mistakes that other players make before they do them.

Injuries. Players think that they happen but the truth is completely different. Rarely injuries just happen – most of the time they are results of previous actions. That is why it is crucial to understand what leads to injuries and take actions to make sure that our actions lead to improvements – not to forced breaks in athletic career.

Why do injuries happen? There can be many reasons so to prevent possible sprains and pulls it is important to consider:

Intensity of your practice sessions

It is priority to work hard every day to be able to achieve the highest possible level. Players perform many challenging drills that force them to put maximum physical and mental effort. This kind of approach is effective for short-term and long-term development if it is planned in advance and includes different volumes and intensities of particular practice sessions. Too many intensive sessions in a row or working at maximum pace while being tired are simple steps not only to drop quality of player’s work but more importantly to have injuries that can pause or even terminate athletic career.

Lack of physical recovery

Slogan “no pain no gain” is famous but it shouldn’t be the goal to any player. Without hard work it is impossible to win tournaments but it is also impossible to compete well while being tired. Only conscious combination of hard work with proper amount of recovery will guarantee the best possible results at any level. Players who don’t sleep minimum 6 hours, don’t take naps during the day, don’t use foam roller and are not willing to stretch muscles after the practice are at big risk of getting injured and slowing own progress. Proper recovery is necessary to make step forward every day.

Improper nutrition

A lot of energy is spent on and off the court while working on own strengths and weaknesses. To maintain good balance of energy expenditure and energy input players have to take care of what they provide to their bodies. Unfortunately still many players eat what they like – not what they need. Because of this approach they don’t guarantee necessary micro and macronutrients balance and their body can’t function at the optimal level. Injuries happen because hard working body is hurt without proper nutrition – players who take care of what is put on their plate reduce significantly possibility of being injured both short and long-term.

Lack of prediction

Athletes are human beings so we can’t expect that they will always make right decisions. They are going to make mistakes but the less they make the bigger chance they will be able to stay on track to to reaching own dreams. Not all the mistakes are of the same value but sometimes one wrong action can destroy someone’s career. Showing off in the gym or using vacations to try extreme sports are examples of activities that can lead to many months of break from tennis. It is all about predictions and thinking about possible consequences. If you think ahead and put priorities first you will be more often on the court than in the hospital.

All players get injured at one point. Rafa is injured as well as Roger has to take breaks from tennis. However, rarely injuries happen because of genetic reasons. Most of the time they are results of improper actions that players repeat over the long period of time or they happen because of one sudden action that puts body at great risk. Applying information from this article will help you reduce number of injuries and be happy with racquet in hand.

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