3 Tips on How to Improve Your Tennis Game Without Stepping on the Court

Do you find yourself not having enough energy to play a third set? Are you having complete mental breakdowns each time you find yourself falling behind in a set? Often times, people who are becoming interested in improving their tennis games think that the only way of doing so is to spend endless hours on the court. This is simply not true. I have been a fairly serious tennis player since the age of twelve. During the last seven years I have participated in a number of USTA tournaments, and have been a head instructor at various tennis camps. If there is one thing I have learned about improving one's tennis game it is that many of the biggest improvements one can make occur off court. Below are a few tips on how you can start to see noticeable improvements in your tennis game by the end of the summer.

1. Getting In Shape

Believe it or not, tennis is very physically demanding. If you want to have energy to play that third set you really must be in amazing shape. Now you may ask, what exactly do I mean by "amazing shape?" When training for tennis a few of the basic things you need to work on are your endurance, recovery time, and overall core strength. Improving your endurance is pretty simple. You just need to run at least a few miles three or so times a week. As far as the recovery time goes you will have to start doing sprints. For tennis, I highly recommend pyramid sprints. Finally, in order to improve you overall core strength you have to hit the gym. For a list of good core strength training exercises I would check out this website : )

2. Technique

When you're first starting to learn how to play tennis I believe that it is very important to be taught the basics by an instructor. However, as I began to play and learn more, I decided that it was time to pick up a book on tennis technique. Of course, the one I chose was Tennis for Dummies. I would highly recommend picking up a copy of this book for a number of reasons: Firstly, it provides great information on all aspects of the game, from strength training to stroke technique to the ins and outs of the pro circuit. For an intermediate player who is interested hearing a different prospective from his or her coach on the technical aspects of certain shots, or for a person who may be interested in eventually teaching tennis, you should really give this book a shot.

3. Mental Game

If you find yourself losing a lot of matches because you lose your tempter, pay special attention to this section : ) Too often have I seen people lose matches due to mental breakdowns after missing a couple of easy shots. Unfortunately, there is no magical remedy for improving your mental game. In the end, improving your mental game simply comes down to will power. If you really don't want to lose another match because of your hot head, then you really CANNOT let yourself throw your racquet or swear when you're on the court. Promise yourself before you begin a match that you will not let yourself get upset. If you're about to get upset just keep telling yourself that it's just a game : ) However, one thing that REALLY helped me to improve my mental game was reading a book written by Brad Gilbert titled Winning Ugly. This is another book that I would highly recommend picking up. It gives you some very good advice on how to keep yourself calm during high pressured situations, and how you can win a tennis match even if you are not having your best day.