If tennis is your sport of choice, you likely spend time perfecting your serve, volley and ground strokes. Equally important is improving your agility on the court. Since tennis is a stop-and-start sport, agility can give you the edge in a match, where every point counts. Agility drills are best practiced when you are fully warmed up, to avoid injury to your calves, knees or ankles.
Foundation
Focus first on building a solid base from which to build your agility skills. If you're new or just returning to tennis, start agility drills once your aerobic capacity, abdominal strength and basic tennis strokes are grounded. If you practice agility drills too soon, you not only risk injury, but as you become more fit, you'll find your agility level improving significantly as a natural effect of your improved fitness.
Drill Basics
Drills should echo your movement in tennis -- straight sprinting, for example, is not a good agility drill for tennis, as you never run for long stretches on the court. You need equipment to make agility drills work for tennis. Cones, flat ladders and agility rings are all helpful equipment if you are working out on a field. However, you can also use the lines on the court for your drills if court space is available.
Speed and Footwork Drills
The main things to focus on for tennis agility are footwork and a quick burst of speed. Place an agility ladder on the ground and sprint over it, raising your knees high as you place your feet in the boxes, not touching the sides of the ladder. Repeat for five to 10 repetitions, resting for 10 seconds between sprints. This helps strengthen your legs and improve your sprint speed, which helps you chase after a ball and return a shot. You can also improve your leg speed and footwork by jogging in place and then exploding into a sprint, then stopping and exploding again. This mimics your activity on the court and helps your legs develop appropriate musculature.
Lateral Drills
Lateral movement, moving side to side, is especially critical for tennis players. To strengthen your ankles and protect ligaments from injury, practice lateral drills after warming up and stretching. Start with short side-to-side drills, either between cones or using the lines on the court. Sprint, running sideways, for five to 10 repetitions, resting for 15 seconds between sets. You can anticipate a significant improvement in your lateral speed using this simple drill three times per week, state researchers K. Salonikidis and A. Zafeiridis, in the January 2008 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.
References
- PubMed.gov: A Six-Week Neuromuscular Training Program for Competitive Junior Tennis Players
- Sports Fitness Advisor: Sample Speed and Agility Drills
- PubMed.gov: The Effects of Plyometric Tennis-Drills, and Combined Training On Reaction, Lateral And Linear Speed, Power, And Strength In Novice Tennis Players
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