Common Tennis Injuries and How to Avoid Them: The Wimbledon Season Guide

Every summer, something wonderful happens across south-west London. The moment the Wimbledon fortnight arrives, tennis courts that have sat quietly through the colder months burst back to life. Rackets are dusted off, whites are dug out of the back of the wardrobe, and thousands of recreational players throw themselves enthusiastically back into a sport they may not have touched since last July.

It is one of the great joys of the British summer. It is also one of the most reliable sources of preventable injury we see at our clinics.

With the 2026 Championships getting underway on 29th June, now is exactly the right time to understand what tennis does to your body, which injuries are most common, and how to make sure you are still on court come August.

Why the Wimbledon Effect Creates an Injury Spike

Tennis is a technically demanding, physically complex sport. It requires explosive lateral movement, rapid changes of direction, powerful rotational forces through the shoulder and elbow, and sustained lower limb loading. For professional players, years of conditioning prepare the body for these demands. For the rest of us, returning to play after months off is a very different proposition.

Research consistently shows that injury prevalence among adult recreational players can exceed 50% in a single year, with around 80% of those injuries classified as overuse rather than acute. They build gradually rather than arriving in a single dramatic moment. The most commonly affected areas are the elbow, shoulder and lower back, though the ankles, knees and wrists are frequently involved too.

The Wimbledon effect compounds this considerably. A surge of enthusiasm, combined with grass courts that play faster and lower than hard courts, and higher playing volumes than any other time of year, creates the perfect conditions for something to go wrong.

The Most Common Tennis Injuries

Tennis Elbow

Perhaps the most well-known tennis injury, and for good reason. Tennis elbow describes pain and inflammation on the outer aspect of the elbow, caused by overuse of the forearm muscles and tendons that attach to the lateral epicondyle. Despite the name, the majority of cases occur in people who have never played a competitive match in their lives.

In tennis specifically, it is commonly linked to poor backhand technique, gripping the racket too tightly, or strings that are strung at too high a tension. Early physiotherapy intervention including targeted strengthening exercises, manual therapy and, in persistent cases, shockwave therapy delivers excellent outcomes. Ignoring it rarely ends well.

Shoulder Impingement and Rotator Cuff Problems

The tennis serve generates enormous forces through the shoulder joint at high speed, making it one of the most demanding actions in sport. Shoulder impingement, where the rotator cuff tendons become compressed within the joint, is a common consequence of repetitive overhead play, particularly where shoulder stability or technique is less than optimal.

Symptoms include a painful arc when lifting the arm and pain that is often worse at night. Strengthening the rotator cuff and the muscles around the shoulder blade, alongside addressing any technique or postural factors, forms the cornerstone of effective rehabilitation.

Ankle Sprains

Grass courts demand rapid, unpredictable lateral movement, making ankle sprains the most common acute injury in recreational tennis. They are frequently underestimated. A sprained ankle that is not properly rehabilitated leaves residual instability that significantly increases the risk of reinjury. If you roll your ankle on court, a physiotherapy assessment is worthwhile even if you feel you can walk it off.

Lower Back Pain

The rotational demands of groundstrokes and the hyperextension of the serve place considerable stress on the lumbar spine. Lower back pain is a particularly common complaint in recreational players over 40, where age-related changes in spinal mobility combine with the physical demands of the game. Core stability work, hip mobility exercises and technique modifications can make a substantial difference to both prevention and recovery.

Knee Pain

The explosive stop-start nature of tennis loads the knee heavily. Patellar tendinopathy, characterised by pain just below the kneecap, is common in players who have increased their playing frequency too quickly. Patellofemoral pain presents similarly around the front of the knee during or after play. Both conditions respond well to physiotherapy-led loading programmes and, where appropriate, shockwave therapy.

Prevention: What Actually Makes a Difference

The encouraging news is that the majority of tennis injuries are avoidable. Research published in Sports Health found that recreational players who completed a structured warm-up programme consistently experienced significantly fewer overuse injuries than those who skipped it.

Warm up properly. Light aerobic movement followed by dynamic stretches including leg swings, hip rotations and shoulder circles prepares the body far more effectively than static stretching on a cold muscle.

Build volume gradually. If you have not played since last summer, throwing yourself into three sets on day one is a reliable recipe for injury. Ease back in and allow your body time to adapt to the specific demands of the sport.

Check your equipment. Grip size, string tension and racket weight all influence the load placed through the elbow and shoulder, and if your racket is old or poorly matched to your game, it is worth having it reviewed.

Strengthen away from the court. Tennis is an inherently asymmetrical sport that creates muscular imbalances over time. Targeted exercises for the rotator cuff, hip stabilisers and calf muscles reduce injury risk considerably.

Address niggles early. A minor complaint that is played through during Wimbledon fortnight enthusiasm has a habit of becoming a persistent problem that ruins the rest of your summer.

When to See a Physiotherapist

If pain is affecting your technique, persisting beyond 48 hours after play, or recurring each time you pick up a racket, it warrants proper assessment. Many of the injuries described above are straightforward to treat when identified early and frustratingly difficult to resolve once they become chronic.

At ProPhysiotherapy, our sports physiotherapists are experienced in the full range of tennis-related injuries and can provide both treatment and a structured return-to-sport programme tailored to your individual goals, whether that is club competition or simply enjoying a social game through the summer months.

To book an assessment, contact our Earlsfield clinic on 020 8879 1555, our Wimbledon clinic on 020 8946 2800, or email enquiries@prophysiotherapy.co.uk. We look forward to helping you make the most of the season.