realtennis fitness

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components of fitness for real tennis       

agility

Agility is a player’s ability to rapidly change body position and direction in a controlled manner. Agility can be on a micro level, e.g. how quickly a player can move their feet in a small space such as receiving a serve. Macro agility is a player’s ability to move their whole body across the court as quickly and efficiently as possible. Macro and micro agility is closely linked with balance, coordination, speed and strength. Co-ordination is the ability to perform accurate motor tasks involving a series of correlated muscular contractions that affect a range of joints and therefore relative limb and body positions. For example real tennis requires effective hand and eye co-ordination.    

speed

Speed is the rate at which a player can perform whole body movements. For example how quickly a player can move around the court. In biomechanical terms speed = distance moved / time taken and is measured in meters per second. Acceleration is a change speed including change of direction (agility) and both speeding up and slowing down.

balance

Balance is the ability to maintain equilibrium above the base of support when stationary (static balance) or moving (dynamic balance). Our ability to remain balanced depends on the co-ordination between the inner ear, brain, skeleton and muscles. Real tennis players require effective dynamic balance in order to move around the court rapidly and efficiently. Balance is linked closely to the strength of the abdominal and lower back muscles.

power

Power can be defined as the rate in which (speed) a player can overcome a resistance (strength). Real tennis requires a player to exert a force on the ball at speed using the upper and lower body. This is particularly important in order to increase the speed of the ball during a rally. 

reaction time

This refers to the interval of time between the presentation of a stimulus (the ball) and the initiation of the muscular response to that stimulus (racket back, changing body position and playing a stroke). Playing a shot off the tambour is a great example of a situation where a player requires excellent awareness and reaction time.

core strength and core stability

The core refers to the inner abdominal and back muscles responsible for stabilizing the spine. Core strength is amount of force that can be exerted by the core muscles described above. Core stability is the ability of these muscles to support the body in all motor patterns. The core muscles of the deep abdominal and lumbar spinal region work together like a corset around the spine. A high level of core strength and core stability enables players to more efficiently control their external upper and lower body muscles. For optimum power and control players should recruit their core muscles when playing ground strokes and volleys. This helps maintain a strong body position throughout the stroke and requires less input from the chest, shoulders and upper arm muscles and more from the powerful leg muscles. Core strength and core stability are probably the most important component of fitness for Real Tennis.

strength endurance

Strength is the force exerted by muscle groups during a single maximal contraction. Strength endurance is the muscles ability to contact repeatedly over a period of time. This is particularly important for real tennis when playing low ground strokes with effective technique. In order to ‘get down to the ball’ players must be able to contact the leg muscles repeatedly during a match. Players who exhibit poor technique often attempt to hit ground stroke from an upright position, therefore not bending the knees thereby contacting the leg muscles. This technique puts makes the core redundant and puts particular strain on the lower back muscles.

flexibility

Flexibility is defined as the range of movement allowed by the muscles around a joint. A player’s flexibility is affected by the temperature of the joints and muscles, the elasticity of muscles and ligaments and one’s ability to perform a particular exercise/movement. Other factors affecting mobility include age and gender. For real tennis mobility is best described as dynamic flexibility – because real tennis requires dynamic movements around the court. This can be improved by practicing specific tennis movements such as lunges and squats.

speed endurance

Real Tennis requires players to be able to combine bursts of high and low intensity work during a typical match. During rallies players have to demonstrate speed, agility and reaction time but an active recovery period comes when players change ends. Because of the varying nature of the game real tennis can be described as a multi-sprint-sport. Speed endurance is one’s ability to repeatedly perform the high intensity bursts to activity throughout a match.      

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