I love tennis...and it apparently loves to hurt me. Tennis is the most abusive relationship I have. I have been playing for over 40 yrs so you would think tennis would be nicer to me. I had been sidelined for 2 months with a pinched nerve in my neck (thank you tennis). Been back on the court/hitting for about 3 weeks and for some reason now my wrist is hurting. Why? Why would that happen? I have not changed anything about my stroke, or my racket/string set up for that to happen. Why are the tennis gods so cruel? So far tennis has messed up my knee (torn meniscus), shoulder (rotator cuff), recently my neck, and now my wrist. To steal the quote from Brokeback Mountain..."Tennis..I wish I knew how to quit you!". Cause no matter how many injuries or minor pains..I will always find a way to get back on the court.
By - tyranny_of_happiness
I think most lifetime tennis players will experience a journey of injury after injury. I'm only 34 and have had several minor injuries, mostly since turning 30. I can only imagine after 40 then 50. What do we say when tennis says "You're not cut out for this anymore. You know what to do." We say "FUCK PICKLEBALL! - BRING THE PAIN"
but you actually can play after 40 and 50 (and 60 and so on). You can't say this about every sport. Probably I will not play basketball after 50.
But fr though you start playing pickleball It’s made for when your body won’t let you play tennis anymore
You can play a relaxed game of tennis with minimal risk of injury, and it is still more fun than the most fun you can have in pickleball.
Do you (I mean really) stretch before and after play, are you in good shape, is your technique (especially on your serve) solid - there are so many factors other than just playing the sport that lead to injuries. Consider yoga, best regimen in the world for tennis and pretty much anything
I do stretch before tennis...have to at my age or I would never be able to take the court. I have started taking yoga classes...holy cow...You really find out how tight your hips and quads really are when you take yoga.
Your wrist probably hurts because you are overcompensating. Probably you are not reaching out as much as usual to stop neck strain and relying more on wrist action...... or something along these lines. Once I hit the 40 year mark things got bad, and I now longer play. I wish I could, but the reward was no longer worth it.
That does make sense. I think something else that probably got my wrist hurting was I took a lesson on my serve. Pro ended up just having me serve the whole hour lesson (although I had mentioned I also wanted to work on volleys). It was a good lesson..but..I think the fact that I had not served at all in like 2 months..then did a whole hour..kind of screwed me up.
Gettin’ old
Every sport fcks you up if you don’t take care of your body. Strength training, mobility and flexibility exercises are a must.
Shoulder, ankle, toe here… not to mention the ten trillion ‘scares’ that, for a day or two, make me think this is the big one
Mid 40s. Not great of a player and tennis hates me. Yesterday I gave myself a black eye on a simple running volley. Shanked it and the ball hit me in the eye
Let me tell you roughly 5 years ago when I played Highschool tennis. We were doing front hand and backhand drills from baseline. I sprained both of my ankles and ever since then my right ankle hasn’t been 100% since. If I forget to wear a brace then I’ll most likely end up re spraining my right ankle somehow. But I had to stay in bed until both ankles healed, its funny now that I look back at it.
I hear you. I'm 37 and since 35 I am a train wreck of injuries, it's depressing, but I will never stop. I had a friend growing up who was paralyzed in a car accident, I found out he took up wheelchair tennis and competes all over the world in tournaments. Its pretty inspirational. If I can move, I will hit that yellow ball.
I heard hot yoga helps like a miracle
Add a good physio therapy not the cheap guy, he will recommend you some other things one friend got recommended more yoga for flexibility but I was recommended Pilates , keep track of your fitness oh and did I forgot have a proper technique of u have problems with ur neck try looking at the ball during the hit and while it flying to the other side and the bounce basically don’t loose eye contact with the ball , thank me later ;)