This is an article “Don’t Let Injuries Stop You From Reaching a Grand Slam Final” by Marc Pulisci
Anyone can play a sport as long as he knows proper footwork, discipline, and, most significantly, how to avoid an injury. For most champions, preventing career-ending or minor injuries is one of the most crucial factors in pursuing a grand slam title. Training doesn’t stop once you learn how to move fluidly on the court or hold a racquet properly. It is also of paramount importance for most coaches to keep their players healthy, in good form, and injury-proof on and off the court.
Experts define a sports injury as a ‘pathologic process’ that creates a diversion in training or competition, leading to medical treatment or rehabilitation. This tells us that accidents rarely cause injuries and can be entirely preventable. There are ways to take the reins and gain control of your body so that it doesn’t get subjected to pain or degradation.
The one thing to always remember is that every athlete, especially in tennis, will experience physical traumas more often than once. You will always be prone to injury as long as you use your body to hit those forehands and backhands or apply proper footwork to position yourself in an advantageous position. You should continuously develop your best form to prevent overusing your body. With good nutrition and learning to control stress via a great warm-up, you can reduce your chances of getting injured mentally and physically.
Here are some ways you can understand your body more and prevent an injury from stopping you from that grand slam win:
Develop proper form and technique
Many players can play in good form yet still fall to injuries even in the early parts of their career. The thing is that developing the best condition for how you play the game includes controlling all your body parts to isolate strains and the stress of your weaker parts.
A bad form lets you rely more on your arms and back than letting your legs do most of the work. When playing tennis, your legs are two of the strongest parts of your body, and practicing the proper footwork during play can take off more stress from your back and arms. Determine your contact points and adjust your legs to get to the correct position to hit the ball.
Stress fractures, particularly in the lower back region, usually result from poor footwork. Players with bad form rely too much on their lower back for power rather than their legs. Like boxing, boxers get their haymaker strength by firmly rooting their legs on the ground and emanating power punches from them. Practice more on drawing strength from your legs rather than straining your upper body too much during a game, or you’ll be more prone to injury than you’d like.
Never forget to warm up
Ora Washington is one great tennis player who hated to train or warm up before a game. Fortunately for her, her body was strong enough to withstand the physical toll of her matches, and she never suffered a significant injury in her career. Still, a good warm-up is always essential if you want to prevent any injury when you play matches.
The first rule is to create some sweat by heating up and stretching your muscles before you hit your first shot. Going to the court cold and stiff only prepares your body for more strain and stress. Knowing the importance of warming up and that your body needs ample time to get used to stress before a match lets it adapt quickly and generates the adrenalin and mental alertness to perform well on the court.
Make sure you stretch every ligament and muscle in your body before performing strenuous actions. This practice prevents any possible tearing when the going gets tough during a match.
Eat, sleep, exercise properly
As previously mentioned, we use our entire body to play tennis, and we use it a lot. Even if the proper way to draw power for your shots should come from your legs, it is also essential to be in the best shape possible through good nutrition, adequate rest and sleep, and just the right amount of fitness to get you ready for the next tour.
Eating correctly is not limited to calorie counting or maintaining a particular weight goal. You’ll also need to watch what you are eating and observe how it affects your body. Top player Novak Djokovic of Serbia bases his diet on mostly organic greens, beans, white meat, fish, fruits, nuts, seeds, and chickpeas. He says he eats a ‘power bowl’ of gluten-free muesli, mixed nuts, and seeds, plus fruits with almond or rice milk. It’s not much of a tasty treat for most, but it works wonders for the former ATP number 1.
Meanwhile, one study found that sleep deprivation affects your performance on the tennis court. Getting less than five hours of sleep impairs your serving accuracy and alertness even if you power up with caffeine. One good example is how King Roger Federer makes sure he sleeps no less than 10 hours every night.
Lastly, the lack of physical workouts makes your body weaker for the heavy-hitting demands of the court because you can’t be flexible without fitness. Worse, the chances of injury are greater when your muscles are weak and if you don’t develop the proper strength and endurance to last a match.
Mind both your mind and body
Lastly, develop a mental game that prevents you from getting frustrated when things don’t work out your way on the court. Most coaches know the importance of mental fitness, preferably developed at a younger age. Mental toughness is vital to overcome your opponent because tennis is not simply a game of endurance but also a contest of mental strength.
If you find yourself being more anxious during or after a match, this contributes to your general stress and could affect your discipline and development. And without proper mental training, you can only lead yourself to manifest an actual physical injury.
Practice meditation and reflect on how you play your game by tuning in on your emotional well-being. Tennis calls for proper chemical balance in our brains to perform the right moves and attitude to turn things around while staying resilient. The more you let stress control your mind, the more you’ll put your body at a higher risk of injury.
Like life, your tennis career may experience some traumas, but there’s never a good recovery program to get back up and grip that racquet harder. The key is to get your mental attitude more decisive first so that your body becomes more disciplined in bouncing back up from every loss or injury.
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