I have been playing tennis competitively for over 20 years. And I have played almost every sport at one point in my life, including gymnastics. Why gymnastics? Haha. My father thought it would help my tennis by gaining strength and flexibility.

After playing a lot of different sports, the ultimate question – which sports are good for tennis cross training and which will help you play better tennis?

The best sports for tennis cross training are basketball, soccer/futbol, yoga, lacrosse, track and field, pickleball, and baseball. If tennis is your priority sport, avoid racquetball, powerlifting, and long-distance running.

When I say powerlifting, you can get away with doing some lower body lifts like deadlift or squat. But, have you ever seen a tennis player with a big chest? The main reason is that you want your arm to be loose and flexible so that it can act as a whip will serving and hitting groundstrokes.

Also see: Is Tennis a Good Workout? It depends…

The 7 Best Sports for Tennis Cross Training

Tennis is a hard sport. The sport is played with a mix of short-distance sprints, jumping, side-to-side shuffling, and racquet control to place a small ball into the other side of the court.

Advanced tennis players usually have a mix of speed, fast footwork, balance, flexibility, jumping ability, and hand-eye coordination.

7) Baseball

When I was in high school, many players on the baseball team would come play tennis just for fun. And they were naturals. Baseball players pick up tennis very quickly as long as they understand not to hit home runs over the fence.

Baseball utilizes tons of hand-eye coordination. The throwing motion of a baseball pitch has a similar motion to hitting a tennis serve. The swinging of the baseball bat is similar to hitting groundstrokes, especially in the turning of the hips.

6) Pickleball

I can’t believe I am saying this, but yes pickleball is a decent crossover sport for tennis. Unlike other racquets sports that can mess up your tennis game because it changes your swing, I have found that pickleball helps my hand-eye coordination.

The point of pickleball is to get up to the net and take control of the point, similar to tennis. This will help your hand-eye coordination for your tennis volleys.

5) Track & Field

Track and Field is a great cross-training sport. In fact, on my high school and college tennis teams, we always used the track as part of our tennis conditioning. Specifically, we utilized the 400-meter sprints, as well as the 200 and 100-meter sprints.

On of the best ways to use the track is to do interval runs, where you run a sprint, rest for 30 seconds and repeat until your workout is complete. In tennis you get 25 seconds in between each point so it mimics the conditioning you need for tennis.

You want to be able to accelerate fast on a tennis court, so don’t get too caught up in the long-distance runs as they will build your long-twitch muscle fibers.

4) Lacrosse

Similar to baseball, I have seen lacrosse players pick up tennis very easily. The act of running with their stick to catch and throw a ball is similar to how tennis players run and swing their racquet.

Lacrosse has the ideal balance for tennis cross-training because it utilizes running, hand-eye coordination, and a stick, similar to tennis.

3) Yoga

Is Yoga a sport? Well, it is not done in a competitive way when compared to other sports, but it is a type of cross training that is ideal for tennis players.

Novak Djokovic, one of the all-time great tennis players is an avid Yoga practitioner. The flexibility and strength-building from holding Yoga positions is one of the best things a tennis player can do for injury prevention.

Also see: 7 Reasons why Tennis is Not a Girly Sport

2) Soccer – Futbol

Futbol is nearly number one on this list, but it lacks the hand-eye coordination of basketball. For lower body sprinting and conditioning, futbol is an ideal cross training sport for tennis.

There is a reason why Nadal, and many other tennis players are fantastic soccer players. But I think it is more cultural than practical as far as the best crossover sport for tennis. Everyone from countries, other than the U.S., learn to play futbol growing up.

1) Basketball

Basketball is the best cross training sport for tennis players.

Why? It uses practically the same movements and athleticism as advanced tennis players. A basketball player playing defense has their legs bent, shuffling side to side, and fast footwork. A basketball player with the ball on offense is driving the lane diagonally, jumping and shooting, which all requires hand-eye coordination while running.

Basketball beats soccer (futbol) on this list because, like tennis, it requires upper body hand-eye coordination.

3 Sports that Will Hurt Your Tennis Game

3) Powerlifting

Don’t get me wrong, there is a place and time for deadlifting and squats for tennis players. Building strength and power in the legs can be beneficial. But, tread lightly the same way you would with long-distance running.

Focus more on core power and hip rotation exercises. Medicine balls, kettlebells, ladder drills and jump rope will provide more benefits for tennis players than weightlifting.

When working out the upper body and arms, it is recommended to stick with low weight and high reps. You don’t want muscular arms or a big chest for tennis. That is why yoga is probably a much better option for cross-training. Remember that big muscles don’t give you a big serve or a fast forehand, it is a loose, whip-like arm that does the trick.

Also see: Is Tennis a Rich Person Sport?

2) Long-distance running (Cross Country)

At a certain level of tennis competition, long-distance running will mess with your tennis footwork. The problem is that running in a straight line for long-distances builds muscle memory in your stride that changes the foot speed and quickness you need for tennis.

Usain Bolt, an 8-time Olympic Gold medal sprinter, says that in his entire life he has never run a mile or longer. The reason is that he did not want to build any slow-twitch muscle fibers. In tennis, you want fast-twitch muscles over long-twitch muscles. Long distance running will negatively impact high-level competitive tennis players more than beginner players.

Occasionally, it is okay to run long distances for cross-training, for example one mile or 5ks. However, the negative impact I am referring to is running a whole season of cross country where you run 3+ miles everyday.

I learned this the hard way in high school when I ran on the long-distance running team for two years. When I tried to transition back to tennis, my footwork was so messed up that I played horrible for at least the first month.

1) Racquetball

I can’t tell you how many different tennis players have told me that racquetball messed up their tennis game. The racquetball swing is so much different than in tennis, that it messes with their tennis swing. Racquetball uses a much shorter and “wristy” swing to maneuver the ball on the court and will leave you baffled when you transition back to tennis.

***********

Thanks so much for reading! Please also check out my Primal Tennis YouTube channel, as I am traveling and documenting local tennis communities in different cities across the world.