Wimbledon Season Is Here, But Is Your Body Ready to Play?

There is something uniquely powerful about Wimbledon. The immaculate grass courts, the unhurried tradition, the extraordinary athleticism of the world's best players, and the almost universal effect it has of making people want to pick up a racquet. Tennis club memberships spike every June. Courts get booked weeks in advance. Dusty racquets are retrieved from garage shelves with optimistic enthusiasm.

As a physiotherapist, I genuinely love this time of year. Tennis is a wonderful sport, demanding, skilful, social, and excellent for both physical and mental health. But I also know what follows Wimbledon fortnight in a typical clinic diary, because the pattern is reliably consistent: a wave of tennis-related injuries, the vast majority of which were entirely preventable.

Tennis makes significant demands on the body. It requires explosive acceleration and rapid deceleration, frequent changes of direction, overhead mechanics for serving, and powerful rotational forces through the trunk and shoulder with every groundstroke. It is a sport that rewards physical preparation and exposes those who neglect it.

Lateral epicondylalgia, tennis elbow, is the injury most commonly associated with the sport, and for good reason. It affects a substantial proportion of recreational tennis players, often driven by a combination of grip size, racquet tension, stroke mechanics, and forearm strength deficits. But it is far from the only concern. Rotator cuff pathology, shoulder impingement, lumbar spine pain, knee problems, and ankle sprains are all common presentations, particularly amongst those returning to play after a period of inactivity or those increasing their volume of play rapidly over the summer months.

The evidence for injury prevention in tennis is well established. A structured warm-up that includes dynamic mobility and activation work reduces injury risk significantly compared to simply walking onto the court and beginning to play. Appropriate racquet setup, grip size and string tension suited to your game and physical characteristics, matters more than many players realise. Technique, particularly for serving and overhead shots, should be assessed if you're playing regularly, as poor mechanics place disproportionate stress on the shoulder and elbow.

Strength and conditioning specifically targeting the shoulder girdle and rotator cuff is perhaps the most important and most consistently neglected aspect of tennis-player preparation. The rotator cuff is the primary stabiliser of the glenohumeral joint through the enormous range of motion required in serving, and inadequate rotator cuff strength is a significant risk factor for both acute and overuse shoulder injuries.

If you're already carrying a discomfort from a previous season, or noticing that something doesn't feel quite right after playing, please don't wait. The transition from a manageable niggle to a significant injury is often quicker than people anticipate, and early intervention makes a substantial difference.

At Smartphysio, we work with tennis players of all levels, from weekend enthusiasts to competitive club players, helping them stay on court and enjoy the game they love. Book a physiotherapy assessment before a niggle becomes an injury, and make this your best summer of tennis yet.