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John Steinbreder, TennisMD News
Mar 02, 2011
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According to TennisMD expert Bob Donatelli, hip muscles play a couple of key roles in the tennis swing, and if properly conditioned can help players be square at impact, and be more powerful and more accurate.
“One of the keys in tennis is having hips that are stronger enough to allow players to really drive the ball with their serves with a powerful push-off as it also provides stability with ground strokes,” he explains. “Right-handed players will find that control of the left hip external rotators will help them avoid over-rotation as it also protects them form knee and lower leg injuries. And the best way to ensure that, is to strengthen the muscles there, so the left leg is a pillar, and a very stable base.”
As for the right hip, Donatelli point to the posterior muscles as being important for controlling the amount of torque in a tennis player’s trunk, and the amount of power he is able to generate in his swing.
Donatelli recommends a pair of exercises to build up strength in the hip. The first enhances external mobility of the hip as it also lengthens the muscles by doing a form of leg lifts, with a weight attached to the anchor leg.
Quick Hip Strength, External Rotators.
As for the second exercise, Donatelli focuses on the abductor muscle.
Hip Abductor Strength, Test & Exercise.
“The idea is to improve control on one side and power on the other,” he concludes. “And if you can do both, you can certainly build up your power and accuracy.”
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