HOW YOGA CAN BOOST YOUR TENNIS PERFORMANCE

5 MOVEMENTS TO PRACTICE, ACCORDING TO A TENNIS COACH

My name is Jen from Love and Deuce, I run my own tennis coaching business in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. I started playing tennis when I was 4 years old and continued a junior tennis career in Australia for over 10 years. In my 20’s I moved through study and a career, I quit the corporate life for the court a few years ago and I’ve never looked back!

I specialise in developing females in tennis through my coaching business. I want to use my experience, passion and expertise in the sport to inspire women to step onto the court and get moving no matter what your level of skill is. My aim is to build a community and fitness brand all-around tennis.

I quit playing tennis competitively at age 19 after 10 years. My body felt broken & riddled with injuries after vigorously training 3 hours a day on a growing body. Yoga literally saved me mentally & physically post tennis and I’ve practiced it for around 7 years now.

From playing tennis at a high level for many years, I was always equipped for high intensity exercise. If I wasn’t exhausting myself, I didn’t think I was doing anything beneficial. Yoga helped me with injuries, alignment, awareness of my body and slowed me down. It isn’t about flexibility, its connecting movement to breathe and creating space.

Yoga is very beneficial for tennis players as it improves flexibility, balance, mental strength, mobility and range of motion, as well as recovery after training and matches. Our muscles and joints can take a beating on the court, so we need to do activities and movements to help our body.

Here are my top 5 yoga movements for tennis

Thread the needle
Wide legged fold
Warrior 2
Downward dog & reach
High lunge & twist

See video below for a full breakdown…