To those of you who answered the other sports question in Odds and Ends

Camilio Pascual

Hall of Fame
To those of you who answered the "other sports" question in Odds and Ends

What skills or abilities from your other sport(s) help you the most in tennis? For example, the pitching/hitting mind game of speed and location helps me with serving and returning. Particularly, the learning of pitcher tendencies (mental) or technique tip offs (mental and physical) helps me very much on my service game with predictable servers or those who tip their serve with their physical movements and ball toss.
 

kevhen

Hall of Fame
Soccer helps with footwork, footspeed, and stamina. Knowledge of baseball pitching has helped me with developing my various serves (flat-fastball, slice-slider, topsin-curveball). Golf, or for me, frisbee golf, helps with staying mentally focused and relaxed. Badminton seems ok for practicing overheads. Basketball is good for staying in shape, competitive, and requires lots of different skills as does tennis. Racquetball is good for developing power and quickness but can mess up your tennis stroke too. Volleyball is good for developing timing and teamwork and spiking is similar to an overhead. Tennis actually helped my batting average to go from .200 to .350 back in high school and the timing of the baseball swing is very similar to a tennis swing, eye on the ball. Football helps with learning to have no fear and being aggressive and even diving on the tennis court. Track and running helps with confidence and stamina in long matches. Soccer, basketball, and football all teach proper defensive positioning which is also something that needs to be learned on the tennis court, when and where to be standing on the court at any one particular moment for maximum court coverage.
 

JackD

Rookie
I was a basketball player and find the footwork very similar. You move in all directions but are almost always facing the same direction like on defense your your guy has the ball. You don't need great top end speed but you have to be quick off the line and maintain body control when you change directions.
 

fastdunn

Legend
I used to have a friend who was very good racquet ball player.
He sometimes played tennis. He litterally asked people to execuse him for his
whippy forehand and blamed on his racquet ball play. I thought his forehand
was absolutely ballistic. This was like 7 or 8 years ago. If he believed in his
forehand and add some topspin, it could have been great modern forehand....
 

kevhen

Hall of Fame
I would also say that basketball and dance are good in learning balance, body control, and sense of timing needed in tennis. A good tennis player like Federer can make it look like ballet out there.
 

thejackal

Hall of Fame
Ice hockey really helped me always stay balanced and have control for my center of gravity (a tennis pro told me that). Also, I dont even worry about getting hit by a tennis ball. It's less than nothing compared to getting crushed by another player or blocking a 100 mph slapshot. ;)
 

tyro

New User
Baseball infielding

As a kid, I played shortstop and second base in baseball, and became good at short-hopping groundballs. In tennis, hitting a half-volley when approaching the net feels natural to me. Also, as I've been working on a more "modern" forehand, I've notice similarities between this stroke and the baseball swing.

Tyro
 

Kaptain Karl

Hall Of Fame
I still believe my overhead -- especially when running down an offensive lob and jump-spin-scissor kicking the shot -- was helped greatly because I developed a keen awarness of my body's position in space from two "sports": springboard diving and ... ballet.

Karate did not help with mechanics, but I have *great* stamina ... and recovery time from all the vigorous training in the martial arts.

I need to invent a tennis kata off the diving board (and hope my leotards don't give me a wedgie in the process). Man! I'd be the BEST at *that* sport...!

- KK
 

gmlasam

Hall of Fame
I played football. Football helped me how to train and condition which I transfered over to tennis, and eventually as a daily lifestyle routine. The sprinting exercises we did in football and running the tires helped with speed and agility for tennis. The motion of throwing the football certainly helped with my tennis serve.
 

drakulie

Talk Tennis Guru
Playing baseball at a fairly high level really helped me with the serve, and with my return of serve.

After hitting baseballs coming at me at 85+, returning serves even at 100 mph with a pretty big racquet head (compared to a bat) seems fairly easy .
 

TheViking

New User
I believe my boxing helps my tennis. The some of the footwork is similar, the anaerobic conditioning comes in handy, wrist and forearm strength are solid and driving from the legs, through the hips is similar in both throwing a hook or cross and hitting a groundstroke. It also helps when settling a close line call... just kidding :)

Where it doesn't help is my weight class. Since I'm a heavy weight, sprinting around the court for 3 hrs can definitely take a lot out of me, but then again, that can help my boxing and it sure beats jogging.
 

volleyman

Semi-Pro
Basketball really helps my tennis. Particularly on defense, you need to stay low, keep your feet moving, and be ready to move in all directions. You need to move quickly, but under control.

For me, basketball also helps my overall endurance, and the series of short sprints that is a game of hoops is good training for a tennis match. Finally, driving the lane, rebounding and all the other jumping improves explosiveness and kinesthetic awareness (awareness of one's body in space).
 
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