ABSTRACT
A sport-specific tennis conditioning programme for competitive tennis players is necessary to maximise performance and reduce the risk of injury. As a framework for developing this programme, both the physiological demands of the sport and the musculoskeletal base of the individual player should be evaluated. The physiological demands of tennis include such aspects as work/rest intervals, primary energy systems, forces related to injuries common in the sport, and sportspecific movements. The musculoskeletal base of the athlete includes physical fitness items such as cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength and endurance, joint range of motion, muscle inflexibilities, muscle weakness, and muscle strength imbalances, as well as athletic fitness items including speed, quickness, agility, power, and balance. Fitness testing can provide a baseline level for the individual athlete to begin a conditioning programme, and can provide useful normative data to compare between athletes at various levels of performance. This approach for evaluating the demands of the sport of tennis, as well as musculoskeletal performance characteristics, can be applied to other racket sports.
