Strength training for tennis players: what the trials in tennis players measured, the lifts, and a tennis workout week

A tennis workout, in the research, is strength, jump or core training added to tennis to make strokes faster and movement sharper. Serve speed is the measure all three meta-analyses below report. This page sticks to what the trials in tennis players measured and how a player can build a week from it.

The sport's demands set the shape. A 2023 meta-analysis of match-play studies found that for international male players, rallies averaged 5.5 seconds and 4.1 strokes, effective playing time was 18.6%, and players ran about 9.6 m per point; first serves averaged 182 km/h. For international female players, rallies averaged 6.4 seconds, players ran about 8.2 m per point, and first serves averaged 156 km/h.¹ Short bursts, many times over: strength and speed for each point, and the engine to repeat it.

What lifting, jumping and core training did

Two meta-analyses found strength work raised serve speed. A 2024 meta-analysis of 16 trials, open to players of any age (about 13 to 42 in the resistance training trials), found resistance training had a small but significant effect on serve speed and multimodal training a moderate one, while core training's effect wasn't significant.² A 2026 network meta-analysis of 20 studies and 606 players, with players under 18 a large share of them, found plyometric, resistance, core stability and multimodal training all significantly increased serve velocity against regular training, with plyometric training ranked first; none made a significant difference to serve accuracy or upper-body power.³ The two disagree on core training alone, so treat it as an extra, not the main course.

Jumps on their own. A 2022 meta-analysis of 12 studies and 443 tennis players aged 12.5 to 25, younger players included, found plyometric training had a moderate positive effect on maximal serve velocity, and small to moderate effects on sprint speed, lower-body power and agility, but no clear effect on serve accuracy.⁴ In 30 male collegiate players, two groups of 10 did eight weeks of jump training three times a week, one on sand and one on a hard surface; both jumped higher than the 10 who kept to regular tennis training.⁵

How to lift: the long trials

The longest trials are two nine-month studies in collegiate women. In the first, 24 players were split three ways. A periodized multiple-set program raised bench press, free-weight shoulder press and leg press strength at 4, 6 and 9 months, and serve velocity at 4 and 9 months; a single-set circuit raised strength only at 4 months and didn't change serve velocity; the third group didn't lift.⁶ In the second, 30 women averaging 19 years old were split into a periodized group, a non-periodized group and a group that didn't lift; the lifting groups trained two to three days a week. After nine months, the periodized group had raised serve velocity 29%, forehand 22% and backhand 36%, against 16%, 17% and 14% for a non-periodized program, along with a larger gain in jump height and, over the first six months, in strength.⁷ Periodized here means the weights and sets change on a plan across the months; periodization explains it.

The lifts for tennis players

The picks are practical, around the lifts the trials tested.

New to the barbell? How to get stronger covers building up to heavy sets, and how much weight to lift covers picking the load.

A tennis workout week

A practical layout, not a protocol from a trial. Two or three lifting days match the second nine-month trial,⁷ and the jumps go inside them.

Keep the heavy legs a day or more away from a match. Changing the weights and sets on a plan over the months, as the periodized groups did, came out ahead in both long trials (in the first, against a lower-volume single-set circuit).^6,7 Cardio and lifting covers the order and the gap between sessions.

Tennis workouts at home

Without weights you keep the jump half, the half two meta-analyses tested on their own.^4,3 A practical home version: jumps, hops and side-to-side bounds, split squats and lateral lunges with a loaded backpack, push-ups, and band rows if you have a band. The resistance band workout covers the band, and the bodyweight workout lays out a full session.

Common questions

Does lifting make your serve faster?

In the trials, yes on average: resistance training raised serve speed in two meta-analyses,^2,3 and periodized lifting raised it over nine months in collegiate women.^6,7 None of the training types made a significant difference to serve accuracy in the network meta-analysis.³

How many days a week should tennis players lift?

Two or three: the second nine-month trial lifted two to three days a week,⁷ and the collegiate jump trial ran three sessions a week for eight weeks.⁵

Lifting or jumping?

Both raised serve velocity in the network meta-analysis, where many players were under 18, with jumps ranked slightly ahead.³ Multimodal programs, which combine training types, had the larger effect in the 2024 meta-analysis.² The week above keeps both.

Is core training enough?

Not on its own: core training's effect on serve speed wasn't significant in one meta-analysis,² though it was in the other.³ Keep the core work as an extra beside the lifts and jumps.

If you'd rather have the week planned

Lifting days only help when they land on the right days around your hitting and matches, and that's a scheduling problem as much as a training one. Coaching here is general strength and fitness coaching, not tennis coaching: your workouts are built around the days you actually have, and a weekly call looks at the week you just had and rebuilds the next one around what's coming. How coaching works explains it, and apply is the first step. Otherwise: put the Monday session in next week, and keep it there for eight weeks.