Physical reasons to play tennis

Tennis enhances your:

1. aerobic fitness by burning fat and improving your cardiovascular fitness and maintaining higher energy levels.

2. anaerobic fitness by offering short, intense bursts of activity during a point followed by rest, which helps muscles use oxygen efficiently.

3. ability to accelerate by providing practice in sprinting, jumping and lunging quickly.

4. powerful first step by requiring anticipation, quick reaction time and explosion into action.

5. speed through a series of side-to-side and up and back sprints to chase the ball.

6. leg strength through hundreds of starts and stops that build stronger leg muscles.

7. general body coordination since you have to move into position and then adjust your upper body to hit the ball successfully.

8. gross motor control through movement and ball-striking skills that require control of your large muscle groups.

9. fine motor control by use of touch shots like angled volleys, drop shots and lobs.

10. agility by forcing you to change direction as many as five times in 10 seconds during a typical point.

11. dynamic balance through hundreds of starts, stops, changes of direction and hitting on the run.

12. cross-training through a physically demanding sport that’s fun for athletes who specialize in other sports.

13. bone strength and density by strengthening bones of young players and helping prevent osteoporosis in older ones.

14. immune system through its conditioning effects, which promote overall health, fitness and resistance to disease.

15. nutritional habits by eating appropriately before competition to enhance energy production and after competition to practice proper recovery methods.

16. hand-eye coordination because you constantly judge the timing between the oncoming ball and the proper contact point.

17. flexibility due to the constant stretching and maneuvering to return the ball to your opponent.