The Benefits of Breathing (The Right Way)
In tennis matches and practices, breathing well is one of the most beneficial actions a player can control. The benefits of a good breathing practice are amazingly powerful:
the ability to reduce the heart rate, thereby allowing for more bodily control and clearer decision-making
the ability to reduce muscular tension, allowing for better range of motion and more precision
the ability to recover from exertion faster, both in between points, and between matches.
What is good breathing? Good breathing is as slow as possible in the moment, utilizes the diaphragm (which pulls more oxygen into your lungs, and to the most efficient area of the lungs), and triggers the parasympathetic nervous system (which slows your heart rate) by breathing in through the nose and out as slowly as possible. Obviously, trying to exhale slowly after a long point of sprinting around the court can be impossible, but the more practice you have with Diaphragmatic Breathing, the faster you will be to relax and slow your breath.
Diaphragmatic Breathing should be practices daily in a relaxed setting and can be introduced on court as the player becomes more comfortable with the process. Here is a simple exercise to get you started. I am also working on a podcast episode which will be only a guided breathing session (no introduction or credits for maximum relaxation), so check the podcast feed for that. I will update this page when the episode is posted.