The Pre-Session Warm-Up

Here's something most tennis players do before every session: they jog one lap, stretch their legs, hold it for a bit, then pick up their racket.

It feels like warming up. But it's not really helping them. In fact, the stretching part might actually be making them slower.

Here's what actually works — and why.

Why warming up matters

When muscles are cold, they can't fire fast. They're sluggish. The first step is late. The serve feels stiff. Reactions are slow.

When you warm up properly, muscle temperature goes up — and that literally makes muscles move faster. For every degree muscles warm up, explosive power goes up by about 3–4%. Faster serves, quicker feet, sharper reactions.

But here's the catch: the effect doesn't last long. If players warm up and then stand around for an hour, they're basically cold again. Time the warm-up so it ends close to when the session starts — right before, not 30 minutes before.

The one thing to cut

Static stretching before training. Those long holds where players bend down and count to 30 — research is very clear on this: it slows them down. It makes muscles too loose, too floppy, and that actually hurts sprint speed and serve power.

Dynamic stretching — moving through range instead of holding it — gives the same flexibility benefit without the speed cost. Cut the held stretches. Move instead.

The 4-step structure

At a glance

• Raise — easy jogging, shuffles, high knees (3–5 min)
• Activate & Mobilise — leg swings, arm swings, walking lunges, trunk rotations (7–10 min)
• Potentiate — 2–3 × 10m sprints, 2 × 3 jumps, arm press × 2 (3–5 min, right before starting)
• Start — do not wait around

The rule

The routine

This follows the Raise + Activate & Mobilise + Potentiation sequence above as a structured warm-up. No equipment needed. Here is a sample warm-up you can run before you begin your tennis session.