Strength and conditioning in tennis: current research and practice

Abstract

Virtually all professional tennis players are in continuous pursuit of enhanced performance. With the modern game becoming increasingly dynamic and tournament schedules no less demanding, the importance of physical fitness is well accepted. Indeed, most professional tennis players resource strength and conditioning specialists on a full- or part-time basis. As tennis play is characterised by intricate bio-energetics, planning specific strength and conditioning interventions represents a significant challenge for the specialist. Further, where game physiology and mechanics have been described extensively, critiques of the efficacy of different training initiatives are far less common. This review therefore considers the current scientific, tennis-specific fitness training evidence base in light of contemporary conditioning, and more particularly resistance training, practices.