It has been traditionally recommended that tennis players warm-up for practice or competition by stretching the major muscles involved in tennis strokes and movements. Static stretching has typically been a large portion of most players' warm-up routine. In the last decade some interesting research has been performed looking at the positive and negative impact that static stretching before physical activity has on subsequent athletic performance and injury rates. This brief review will analyse the information to help the tennis coach, trainer, clinician and scientist decide whether static stretching should be implemented in a player's routine.
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