Move Better, Hit Harder: 3 Key Exercises to Elevate Your Tennis (Strength & Mobility)
You step onto the court, warm up, and start hitting a few groundstrokes. Everything feels good—until midway through the second set, when your knee starts nagging and getting to the net feels like a long way. Or your shoulders feel heavy, making those serves and smashes a little sluggish (or maybe you’re avoiding smashes altogether because ‘my shoulder might hurt!’). Sound familiar?
I love tennis as a sport. I used to play pretty competitively at county and regional level in my youth, combined with years of coaching adults and kids. So I know first hand it’s a demanding sport – powerful groundstrokes, quick changes of direction, and long rallies that test your endurance. Not to mention the stress on knees, backs, and shoulders across multiple sets.
Some off-court, tennis-focused strength and conditioning can reduce those nagging aches while also developing better power, agility, and endurance so you can move freely and make the most of your time hitting. Here’s some of our top tips:
Play Year-Round But Pick Your Peaks!
🎾 Play tennis! Nothing replaces time on the court for skill and endurance.
🏋️♂️ Add in some tennis-specific workouts at certain times through the year to peak your performance and build resilience.
On the Court & After The Game
💧 Hydrate well—water is key, but don’t forget electrolytes on hot days.
🍌 Fuel properly—carbs and protein will help keep energy levels up.
🛌 Prioritise rest and recovery—good sleep and mobility work will go a long way to keeping you moving well.
Tennis-Specific Training Focus
Tennis demands quick acceleration and deceleration, changes of direction, powerful rotational movements, and lots of overhead power again and again. The best training preps your body to meet these demands, so when it comes to off-court S&C, focus on:
✅ Decent thoracic and overhead shoulder mobility for strong groundstrokes, bigger serves, and happier elbows.
✅ Twisting power and core control to hit powerful shots while protecting your lower back.
✅ A good multidirectional lunge pattern is a must!
✅ Lower-body strength and agility to handle rapid changes in direction.
✅ Strong shoulders to react at the net and support repeated swings and serves without overloading joints.
✅ Fast feet & hands to get around the court and react quickly.
With that in mind, here are three key exercises to prepare for the physical demands of tennis.
Tennis-Specific Exercises🎾
1) Side-Lying Thoracic Rotation / Windmills
Why? Improves upper-body mobility and rotational control—key for powerful and efficient strokes.
6-12 reps each side / keep going if the range continues to improve. Slow & steady breathing throughout
Which one?
- Focus on spinal rotation? side lying thoracic rotations
- Improve shoulder blade motion and integrate the pattern? Side lying windmills
2) Multi-Directional Lunge
Why? Strengthens legs in all planes of motion, mimicking the varied footwork & positional demands in tennis.
Steady tempo, 2-3 x round on each leg, pausing for a hold of 1 in the bottom position is great option to get started.
Progressions & Regressions:
- Start with body weight.
- Progress by adding weight, goblet grip is a great place to start before going off set.
- Struggle with all directions? Work on one direction at a time before building the full pattern.
- Struggle with the lunge? Break it into 2 movements step then drop (vs, step and drop) or try a split squat
3) Reverse Wood Chop with Weight Shift
Why? Develops rotational power and core strength for explosive shots.
Progressions & Regressions:
- If over 50 it’s worth checking you’ve got decent thoracic spine mobility. If it’s restricted, pushing on with overhead loaded twist movements just asks more and more of the shoulders and can be a contributor to shoulder and elbow pain. If you’re lacking, I’d work on that mobility specifically and modify by chopping from high to low instead.
- Break the movement down: start with just the wood chop or just the weight shift before combining them.
These exercises are ideally the bread and butter for any tennis player. Next steps, we’d be looking to progress them with power training and more demanding exercises to truly meet the sport’s demands. If these feel too difficult or intimidating, don’t worry—all it means is you’ve got a whole world of opportunities ahead to improve your game and body!
The Takeaway
A little targeted off-court training can go a long way in making you more robust, reducing injury risk, and improving your game. Whether you want to hit harder, move faster, or just feel better on the court and play for years to come, these exercises will help you build the strength, mobility, and endurance tennis demands.
Need help figuring out your best starting point or a personalised plan? Our assessment with initial action points is a great place to begin, or regular 1-1 coaching (weekly or monthly) can take the guesswork out and help you play your best all season long.
Time to hit the court—game on! 🎾🔥
Ross