SL Clay Court Nationals: An explosive forehand drive by SL National Champion Anika Seneviratne in her mixed doubles finals on Friday (9) in the SL Clay Court Nationals at the SLTA, Colombo. Seneviratne partnered Dineshkanthan Thangarajah (left) to beat Neyara Weerawansa and Sankha Atukorale 7/5, 6/4. Photo Pradeep Dambarage[/caption]
Tennis is a sport where the movements of the respective players matter a lot. While the area of the movement may not be very large (it is most likely to be around 100 feet by 50 feet), in fact it is around 5,000 square feet, the ability of the player to run down balls in that area and to make sharp movement and directional changes is extremely important.
As such, tennis players should spend a substantial amount of time during practices dedicated to their movement training. Therefore, it is extremely pertinent to understand the necessary movement training in the correct manner and to do them properly.
Aerobic sports and anaerobic sports
This is an area which is rather lacking in Sri Lanka at the moment. Lately, there have been some trainers who have started training for the sport of tennis. This is a good trend. This is because of the fact that the sport of tennis needs specialised training and not general training. Therefore, it will now be examined as to the important specifics for the training of the sport of tennis.
There are two kinds of sports in the world. One is Aerobic sports and the other one is anaerobic sports. Aerobic sports are the slower and longer kind of sports. For example, an event like the marathon in track and field, longer distance events in swimming, and even for that matter, most aspects of the sport of cricket would fall under this category.
Anaerobic sports and events are where the movements are sharper, quicker and will require shorter bursts of speed to complete. Examples would be the sprint events in track and field, the shorter distance events in swimming, and running between wickets in cricket might come under the category of anaerobic movements and events.
Importance of training in both kinds
The difficulty in the sport of tennis is the fact that anaerobic movements, such as running for the ball and continuing the rally with sharp bursts of speed and change of directions, are then followed by long periods of inactiveness.
Apart from that, although there are anaerobic movements, a tennis match of best of three sets, might likely be played close to two hours. That would then mean that parts of aerobic training would also be needed to complete the competition. As such it is very important that tennis trainers who are doing the movement training for the players focus on both these aspects.
Always racket in hand
Secondly, another mistake which is widely made in tennis training is the fact that most players would do movement training without a racket in their hand. Most of us would move better when we are not encumbered by anything else. But in tennis, a player would always have to move with a racket in their hand.
Almost all the players find thorough experience that they move better in training than they do in their matches. This is because of the fact that in matches, they are always carrying the rackets when they make their movements. Therefore, it is very important that the players and the trainers make sure that they have a racket in hand and that too in the normal position a tennis racket would be held when they do their movement training.
The natural explosive speed
Having discussed all of the above, it is important to have knowledge of the important aspect itself of the movement training that the players need to concentrate on most. The most important aspect of the training that is needed for the payers is explosive speed. This is because of the fact that the players need to react and reach a ball in a very short period of time.
Therefore, not only is the speed that is important but also the reaction to reach the ball is important. As such, explosive speed becomes a vital component of tennis training. Unfortunately, explosive speed while it can be trained up to a point with the players cannot be fully ingrained exclusively through training only. The players themselves need to have a certain amount of explosive speed within them which can then be further enhanced through training. Therefore, players with natural explosive speed will always be at a certain advantage when it comes to the movement aspects in the sport of tennis.
You “see” first
Apart from explosive speed, the other aspects that are needed for the players is agility, ability to change direction which is related to agility, reaction and also strength, specifically leg strength. All these are aspects which the players are able to practise with their trainers. But a point which needs to be emphasised is that, apart from the fact that it is better for the players to do their training with the racket in the hand, it is important to note that the tennis players will need to improve their reactions through sight, and not sound.
This is another very common mistake which is made by both the players and the trainers. Tennis players have to see the ball and judge its movement. It is therefore of paramount importance that they practise accordingly.
Good movers always have the edge
In terms of strength and, especially leg strength, the players and the trainers can use “plyometric jumps and training” to improve that aspect of their training. Specific exercises will not be discussed here as they are too numerous to mention. But what is important is the fact that both the players and the trainers stick as much as possible to exercises which mimic the tennis movements needed on a court.
A player who moves well on court will almost certainly have an advantage over their opponent. Not only that, a player who moves better will be more confident as well. Therefore, this area of tennis is of vital importance and should be given adequate attention.