Tennis Information

Tennis Clothes Should Be Comfortable
You have been playing tennis on and off over the years and have finally decided to get more serious about the game. You figure you can kill two birds with one stone by getting your exercise while doing something you like. Now, you set off to get yourself ready to play.

As always, you want to look your best, after all, you have always been a great dresser. The decision now is ‘what should I wear when playing tennis?’ Do I need special outfits similar to what pros like the Williams sisters wear or can I just wear casual clothing? Bottom line is that the decision is yours to make.

You can purchase a complete outfit made by any major manufacturer of sporting goods. These include Nike, Adidas, Prince, Wilson, Head, Babolat, Balle de Match, and there still many more out there selling good products.

If you do not want to invest in the special clothes, think comfortable. Your outfit should be loose and flowing as you will be running back and forth, jumping up and down and twisting in every direction as you try to hit the ball. Maybe you will want to just wear the clothes you already have in your closet or to purchase ones-either works as long as you can move freely around the court.

If you join a group or a club and play as a team together, you may need to purchase a team uniform.

Your group will select an outfit that may include a top, shorts, socks and jacket or a special short dress with socks and a jacket-monograms are also available and you can even add the team’s name to the back of the outfit.

If you have joined a tennis club, you may want to stop by periodically to see what other people are wearing. I am not saying that you should try to ‘keep up with the Jones’ here, but there may be an ‘unspoken’ dress code for players. You should be able to figure that out without embarrassing yourself by showing up inappropriately dressed.

Take time to go out and shop around for your outfit. If you do not have a lot of spare time or you hate to think about spending time at the mall on your day off, look on the internet. Just type in ‘tennis clothing’ and you will be amazed at the number of different web sites that will be listed.

Go through a few of these sites to get an idea of what you want-this is probably the quickest and easiest way to see literally hundreds of different options in just a few minutes. You can even order your outfit without every leaving your home-it can even be delivered directly to your door for you to wear.

Find the outfit you like and that you are comfortable in. Play tennis with your friends, make new acquaintances, schmooze with potential clients, and just enjoy yourself. You are out with people and getting exercise and you look and feel great.

Do You Have Tennis Elbow?
You keep feeling pain in your elbow and can not figure out why. You are in great physical condition and play tennis every weekend with friends when the weather is nice. You have even joined a tennis club to have access to better inside courts.

Now, you are in pain and do not know why. What is even more important to you is that you can not play tennis without the pain becoming more severe. It is time to see the doctor and hopefully get a pill to get better. Unfortunately, after extensive testing, the doctor tells you that you have tennis elbow-something you thought was just a joke or an excuse for not playing the game well.

Okay, so what is going on in your elbow? Tennis elbow occurs when tiny tears occur in a certain part of the tendon and in the muscle coverings. Even after letting everything heal and taking care of your injury, you will be prone to this condition for the rest of your life.

You begin studying about this topic and learn that tennis elbow has some basic symptoms that include:

* Recurring pain on the outside of the upper forearm just below the bend of the elbow; occasionally, pain may radiate down the arm toward the wrist.

* Pain caused by lifting or bending the arm or grasping even light objects.

* Difficulty extending the forearm fully (because the inflamed muscles, tendons and ligaments do not want to bend).

* Pain that typically lasts for 6 to 12 weeks; the discomfort can continue for as little as 3 weeks or as long as several years.

You realize that you have been having problems for a few months with these symptoms, but did not know that there was a serious problem. You would just take a few aspirin and go on with life-being tough and dealing with the discomfort. Now, you know that by ignoring the pain that you had has caused even more damage that will take longer to heal.

If you had only taken the time to know about tennis elbow, you may have been able to avoid the problem. There were exercises specifically designed to strengthen the arm muscles used when playing tennis. If you had just known about this preventative process, you would have been able to do these before playing. Very much like the stretching you do before jogging-you warm up the muscles and get them ready.

So now you know what to do, but is it too late? It may not be too late. You can start taking better care of yourself and make sure that you are ready to play tennis again. Let your initial injury heal all the way-not just when you think it is better, but after the doctor gives his approval for you to play again. Then, try a warming up the muscles first or wearing a band around your forearm just below the elbow. The extra support provided by the band may help or hurt—ask your doctor for his opinion.

Take the time to get better, and hopefully you will out on the tennis court again enjoying yourself without the worry of another injury.