Preventing and managing tennis injuries: practical advice

Injuries are an integral part of a tennis player’s career. It is therefore essential to take them into account in the training process towards the highest level. First of all, it’s important to take the time to define what an injury is and what I mean by injury management.

Injury produced at any point on the body by a shock, blow, weapon or hard body of any kind.

Definition taken from the Larousse dictionary.

At the Mouratoglou Academy, injury prevention is a priority, with particular attention paid to repeated shocks and postures specific to each player.

The word shock is essential in this definition to understand how an injury is created. In fact, they are always the result of one or more repeated shocks, which account for almost all tennis injuries. Some of the most common categories of injury are tendonitis, bursitis and periostitis, which are multifactorial injuries caused largely by the repetition of a large number of movements. These aspects are taken into account in the methodology taught at the Mouratoglou Academy, where each player benefits from personalised monitoring to prevent and manage injuries effectively.

As you know, repetition is one of the main characteristics of our sport. Tennis, like all racket sports, is an asymmetrical physical activity. It does not require the same muscular, joint and tendon stresses on the left and right. It therefore repeatedly calls on the same areas of the body.

You have to learn to manage injuries in two different ways. Firstly, prevention, and secondly, once the injury has occurred despite all the efforts made to avoid it, managing the convalescence period. This period can range from 10 days for a slight ankle sprain, for example, to 8 months for the most serious injuries, those requiring surgery. This is a very delicate period for top-level sportsmen and women, with so many issues at stake: how do you get back to competition as quickly as possible? How can relapse be avoided? How do you cope psychologically with this period away from the courts? Not to mention the huge financial stakes for some athletes.

These issues are tackled in depth in the Mouratoglou Academy‘s tennis studies programmes, where talented young players learn to deal with moments of forced retirement with resilience.

The physical aspect

This period is a huge challenge for the fitness trainer and the medical team. The equation is simple: you have an injured player in your hands, sometimes just out of surgery, and the aim is for him to be able to play in a match again as quickly as possible, without re-injuring himself. This last part of the equation is not the easiest. After being looked after by a medical team, the physical trainer, in collaboration with the medical staff, has to set up a complete reathletisation plan, with a timetable that will of course be subject to change depending on how the situation develops. The priority is to treat the injury and protect the competitor from a possible relapse, through specific physical training.

In the case of serious injuries, leading to long periods of convalescence, sometimes with almost total inactivity, the other challenge is to get the player back to his maximum physical potential so that he can be competitive when he resumes playing. The key word in this situation is strategy. The physical trainer and the medical staff have to make choices and listen to the player so that he can progress quickly enough without re-injuring himself. Progressiveness, combined with fine-tuned periodisation choices, are of course the main thrusts of this strategy.

There is a real advantage in these cases of injury to practising mental imagery, which will also be of considerable benefit in continuing to learn all aspects of coordination when this is limited during periods of rehabilitation.

The psychological aspect of tennis

The period of convalescence, when it is long, is extremely delicate to manage for an athlete. In addition to the uncertainty, they may feel unwell, being away from the courts, their passion, their friends and their lifestyle (travel, competition).

Finally, when a professional player is away from the circuit, certain problems can arise, such as thefinancial aspect, sponsors, ATP/WTA points and the expectations of the media and those around him. If no one is there to support him at this time, the rest can become very complicated for him, even leading to a definitive end to his tennis career.

So it’s vital that the player is well looked after, and not just by those close to him. Instead, they need a competent coach who can help them manage their emotions, stay motivated and concentrate on their re-athletisation plan.

The tennis aspect

In the case of long-term convalescence, once reathletisation is complete, the player can finally play tennis again! But not just any old way, of course. This is an extremely delicate phase for the athlete and his coach. The pitfalls are the desire the player may have to play tennis again, leading to a risk of relapse if they are not careful. But there is also the fear of relapse, which can sometimes make players feel very apprehensive when they play again, or even make them feel pain when they no longer have any. All the more so as, with some injuries, it is “normal” to feel a little pain when resuming play.

The other challenge of returning to tennis is tosupport the athlete in his search for new points of reference and new sensations, a search that can be destabilising for some players. This can lead to a fear of not returning to a high level, and a stubborn search for their “old level”. Once again, if the player and coach are not alert to these pitfalls, the quest to return to the highest level may prove futile.