2. Andy Murray's Blisters

After the hundreds of hours of pre-season work by Andy Murray, he came into the Australian Open in great physical shape and moved through the first few rounds of the Australian in devastating form. He came into the Open final looking good and played well in the first couple of sets. Then he called the trainer to work on a major blister on the inside of his left foot. As most of you are aware, bad blisters can be devastating for a tennis athlete due to the constant stop, start nature and the hundreds of movements that the athlete goes through in every match. Unfortunately, something as simple as blisters derailed Andy's chance of really contending at 100% for the last 2 sets of the final. This is an important lesson to everyone working with competitive athletes. The athlete is only as strong as his or her weakest link. Although every major factor was accounted for in Andy's training leading to the final, the one area that led to his downfall was something as simple as blisters. This is an important lesson to teach all athletes. Everything needs to be accounted for when preparing for a major tournament - including blisters.

3. Serena Williams Injury

Serena was a strong favorite going into the Australian Open this year; she was looking very strong in the lead up tournament in Sydney.  During her first round she rolled her right ankle 19 minutes into the match. On television it appeared to be rather severe, but she was able to still win her match 6-0 6-0 but with very little movement. Even though it was obvious that her movement was impeded, she continued to win through to the Quarterfinals where she faced the young American Sloane Stephens. Midway through the match while running for a short ball Serena aggravated a back injury which was noticeably painful. Although it is impossible to say with certainty,  the weakened ankle likely led to compensation up the leg and lower back, and this weakness and compensatory movements led her back to require movements that were atypical. This atypical movement likely was the cause of the back injury. This is an important concept to remember at any level of the game. It is important to take care of any injury (no matter how small) as an injury in the lower body can, at some point, have a deleterious effect on other parts of the body.

The Prone Scapula Retraction exercise is a very beneficial exercise for tennis athletes. The athlete faces the ground in a pushup position and slowly squeezes the shoulder blades together as demonstrated in the video. The purpose of this exercise is to help develop strength and stability in the muscles surrounding the scapula. These muscles are very important for tennis athletes to help in the prevention of shoulder related injuries. These smaller muscles that help to stabilize the scapula (shoulder blade) are very important because if they are not strong and stabilized, the smaller muscles of the rotator cuff become over active and end up performing more work than they can handle. Remember that the shoulder is a complex joint and to protect the shoulder it is important to work on improving strength, stability as well as the endurance of the muscles surrounding the joint.

For the beginner tennis player, 1-2 sets of 10 repetitions will be challenging. As the athlete develops more strength and stability this can be increased to 2-4 sets of 10-15 repetitions. It would be recommended to rest at least 60 seconds between sets.