Fitness Testing

Why Fitness Testing?

We all know that we have to do fitness training to improve our tennis, but how do we know our fitness levels are improving?

This is where fitness testing comes in.

You should be performing a test about every three months to check your progress and determine whether any adjustments need to be made to your training regime.

Unless you’re an elite player, however, it’s unlikely you’ve have access to elaborate testing facilities.

But that doesn’t matter.

Outlined below are three simple ‘field’ tests that you can perform with little or no equipment.

The beauty of them is that they can be carried out anywhere in the world again and again and will give you reliable, comparable, useful and meaningful results.

Why not just test your fitness using traditional gym equipment, you may well ask.

Well, while a rowing test, for example, is often used as a test of fitness/endurance it is not an appropriate indicator for tennis conditioning as it in no way recreates the movement patterns used in the game. That’s why the tests suggested here relate to the demands of tennis.

Note: To prevent injury ensure you warm up thoroughly before starting these tests.

The average distance covered to each shot in tennis is about 2.5 metres, so your first step is vitally important in determining whether you get to the ball in a well prepared position or are late and off balance.

In 30 seconds, count how many times you can go between the centre line and the singles side line (touching with your racket). Rest for 30 seconds and then repeat.

Note down your highest score.

You need tremendous leg strength to push off sideways and into shots in today’s highly physical modern game. Consequently, this exercise is designed to test your leg power endurance when pushing off laterally.

For this fitness test wrap an exercise tube or skipping rope around a net post at a height that is just at the bottom of your kneecap.

You have 15 seconds to make as many two-footed jumps over the tube/rope as you can.

Rest for 90 seconds and then repeat. Record your best score.

In tennis you need to produce multiple sprints in quick succession.

What’s more, you need the ability to recover between sprints and still produce the same level of power so that you are as fast at the end of the match as you are at the beginning.

This test is a measure of your ‘sprint fatigue’.

Place a cone level with the baseline at the singles sideline, another on the service line at the singles line and a third cone four standard racket lengths away on a parallel with the second cone.

Also position three cones in the same way at the opposite end of the court (see diagram).

Measure how long it takes you in total to sprint from cone 1 to cone 2, side skip to and shuffle around the outside of cone 3, sprint to cone 4, side skip and shuffle around the outside of cone 5, sprint to and go right around cone 6, then go back using the same footwork patterns finishing by touching cone 1 with your racket.

Rest for 30 seconds and repeat 10 times.

At the end of the test you need to subtract your fastest from your slowest time to get your measure of sprint fatigue.

For example, if your slowest time is 17.8 seconds and your fastest time 16.9 seconds, your sprint fatigue will be 0.9 seconds (i.e. 17.8 minus 16.9).

Then, take the average time of your first three runs, for example 16.97 seconds, and divide it by the average time of your last three runs, for example, 17.4 seconds, (16.97 / 17.4 = 0.94) and multiply that figure by 100 (0.94 x 100 = 94 per cent) to get your ‘power maintenance percentage’ (PMP).

This is your ‘percentage of drop-off’, which you are trying to increase from one test to another.

Use the following figures to gauge your improvement:

90% + is excellent

85-89 is good

80-84 is average

Less than 79 needs some work!

Build fitness testing into your schedule to ensure that you are progressing in the right direction and watch your game progress as well!


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