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Technique
How to warm up before playing tennis
Ten minutes that cut injuries and make you play better from the first game, and why static stretching beforehand backfires.
Almost nobody warms up in club tennis. You get to the court, hit five balls and start playing. Then you wonder why the first set is always the worst.
Stretching cold is not warming up
Static stretching, the hold-it-for-thirty-seconds kind, before playing temporarily reduces muscle strength and power. It does not prevent injuries and it does make you start worse. Save it for afterward.
The ten minutes that do work
- Two minutes of easy movement: jog the baseline, circle your arms.
- Three minutes of dynamic mobility: hip and shoulder rotations, knee lifts, heel kicks, lateral shuffles.
- Two minutes of wrist and forearm: gentle rotations and flexions. It is the area tennis loads most.
- Three minutes of hitting: start at the service line, short and soft, and work back to the baseline.
The warm-up rally counts
The classic mistake is stepping into the rally and swinging hard immediately. A proper warm-up rally starts mid-court with soft, controlled balls and builds intensity. That is the moment to find the ball, not to prove anything.
The serve needs its own warm-up
The serve loads the shoulder more than any other shot and almost nobody warms it up. Before starting, hit at least six or eight serves at half pace, building gradually. Opening a match with a full-power first serve on a cold shoulder is asking for an injury.
When you finish
That is when static stretching belongs: forearm, shoulder, hamstrings, calves and hips. And water, more than you think, especially in the south of the island.