Recreational tennis asks your body to sprint, brake, rotate and reach—all on a hard surface—often after long desk hours and with minimal warm-up. The result is familiar: sore elbows, tight lower backs, aching knees and shoulders that “flare up” after a big match. None of that means you are fragile; it usually means the kinetic chain (ankle–knee–hip–spine–shoulder–wrist) is leaking force instead of sharing it.
What actually goes wrong
When one link in the chain is stiff or poorly timed, neighbouring joints compensate. A stiff thoracic spine pushes more rotation into the shoulder. A hip that cannot decelerate well overloads the knee on change of direction. A grip that is “white-knuckle” tight turns the forearm into a shock absorber instead of a whip. These patterns work until they do not—and then small tissues (tendon, capsule, labrum) take loads they were never meant to carry session after session.
Common injury profiles in club players include:
- Lateral elbow pain from late contact and excessive wrist flicks on defence
- Rotator cuff irritation from serving with a shoulder blade that does not upwardly rotate on time
- Patellar or achilles niggles from aggressive split-steps without adequate eccentric strength
- Lower-back stiffness from rotating through the lumbar spine instead of the hips and mid-back
A smarter, science-led approach
At Systema Tennis, sessions are not only about “technique” in the abstract—they connect how you move to how you hit. That means:
- Alignment first – positions that keep joints centred so muscles can produce force without shear
- Timing second – sequencing that lets bigger muscles initiate and smaller muscles fine-tune
- Tissue capacity third – strength and elasticity progressed so weekends on court are not a surprise event to the body
You do not need an elite training block to get safer. You need a few high-leverage habits: a real warm-up that wakes up rotation and braking, serve and groundstroke checkpoints that reduce overload, and a honest look at recovery (sleep, hydration, and load from other sports).
If you train in Coogee or the Eastern Suburbs, Bastien can map your game to a simple movement plan that respects your schedule—so tennis stays the sport you play for life, not the one that sidelines you every few months.