Yoga & Tennis – A Match Made in Yogi Heaven

in Apr 16, 2024

Wimbledon has arrived in London, and the tennis matches are ON! And although many of the well-known players are out of the game, yoga is used a LOT to improve performances. The World’s Number 3 player Andy Murray practices Bikram Yoga in temperatures of 40°C and above, and believes that these practices have changed him physically as well as mentally which in turn has raised his competition skills to the max. The results are clear when he won his last tournament in September 2012 against Novak Djokovic, his yoga practices are working.

The name Maria Sharapova ring any bells? She’s only one of the many legendary female tennis players in the world! Well she too, swears by yoga. Maria says that when she is playing a point during a match, she has a small time-frame between a point where she is able to breath and think about her next move. Yoga is kind of the same thing in the sense that you need to take a moment to think about what you need to do, how you will place your body and most importantly, breathing into the stretched. This is mentally stabilizing. Sharapova has a video on YouTube where she explains that she has practiced yoga since the age of about fifteen or sixteen, and that she really swears by the benefits of yoga in her every day life.

 

I myself have practiced tennis on many occasions every since I was a toddler. When you come to think of it, you always need to stretch before and after exercising – so how different could it be to practicing yoga?? Tennis is a lot about the focus of the mind – you need to have high levels of concentration on the ball, on yourself, on your opponent and also about your surroundings. Yoga helps to open up your mind, relax your body, and stay focused. Yoga embraces your body, and you should embrace it.

Until next time, fellow yogi’s!

Yogi Hugs from Yogamasti