I am a keen tennis player in my late 40s. I am still playing reasonably, being top 10 ranked in the UK for my age and winning my open club tournament this year. All the guys and ladies I play against constantly discuss how to get fitter and better at tennis.
This year I have played some good tennis with some of the best results of my life. I put this down mainly to the off-court conditioning that I have been doing with my trainer Georgia over the last few years.
Looking back to 2018 or 2019, before I started going to the gym and training, I could not get the same power on my serve or smash. I was getting more tired between points, and my recovery was far worse. This all changed in 2020 and 2021. This was due to the help of my trainer Georgia.
There are still some very strange attitudes to off-court conditioning among the good tennis players that I play. I get a lot of comments like this:
a) Why you are paying someone to stand next to you in the gym
b) Getting gym fit does not help your tennis
c) Tennis is all about strategy, not fitness
d) It’s a waste of money
e) I am self-motivated; I don’t need someone to motivate me
I probably held some of these views myself back in 2018 before I started training with Georgia. What people miss is that you train safely, better, and ultimately harder with expert advice. Let’s cover this one by one.
1) Safer – this is probably the biggest one for me. By having the correct form when you are lifting weights and stretching, you hugely reduce injury risk. There is also someone there telling you exactly when you go wrong and making you have good form. The number of people that hurt themselves in the gym is huge. With a good trainer with you, there is a very little injury risk. Another point is that it is beneficial to have an expert give you rehab on the damage safely when coming back from an injury. The number of times you see people doing massive weights with completely the wrong form with a bad trainer or alone is huge. This will reduce their performance, and also, they will get hurt.
2) Better – By having the correct form in the gym, you can train to a higher level. My goal is never to be the biggest guy in the gym or to look good. My goal is consistently winning tennis matches. Therefore, we focus on tennis-specific training, which is less weight and high reps. It is about improving speed and timing. The correct expert trainer will help you reach your goals, whatever they may be. It is also true that having a booking with a trainer motivates you to go to the gym regularly. You feel bad not going if you are paying for it and commit.
3) Harder – All aspects of my fitness have improved massively. On my first training session with Georgia, I could not make one lunge even. I could not get my knee down to the floor. I can now do 20-30 in a row carrying 10 kg weights in each hand. Also, I had terrible form when I started. I had wandered around the gym doing my own thing before 2019, but I was almost entirely focused on the upper body. I would do a few bench presses and feel good, and walk out. I now focus much more on leg power. I have found core and leg power is the real key to winning tennis matches, not upper body strength. Before starting the sessions with Georgia, I thought I was very fit, as I played a lot of tennis. But I had massive weaknesses in certain areas.
One thing to mention is that training with an expert trainer is a long process. It is not about fast results. It is about long-term behavioural change. The most important thing is also injury prevention. There is a link between having an excellent personal trainer and avoiding injury. As we all get older, injury prevention is the key to enjoying an active lifestyle. Nobody wants activities if they are fighting through the pain.
In conclusion, if you want to get fit for a sport like a tennis, start taking non-tennis fitness seriously. I wish I had started this kind of non-tennis conditioning far earlier, and I think I would have played much better much younger. However, it is better late than never, and I now fully appreciate the benefits of good quality off-court training.
