Novak Djokovic the Serbian professional tennis player and currently ranked as Number 1 in the Men’s singles tennis by Association of Tennis Professionals has attributed his physical and mental fitness to the practice of Yoga, meditation and a vegan lifestyle. Novak Djokovic is known for his gluten free and vegan diet, and has a book to his credit along with a restaurant named Eqvita.
According to Novak Djokovic he does yoga and meditation out of a need to have an optimal state of mind and peace and calm. Novak Djokovic attributes his happiness and joy to the practice of Yoga. Emotional balance on the court is something that Novak Djokovic stresses upon while playing in tournaments. In his 7-8 months of dry spell when he was not able to rake in any trophies Novak was getting in form by practicing Yoga and meditation.
Yoga the way of life for tennis players
While talking to a hot yoga expert in North Hollywood we came to know that yoga practice can be the perfect recovery tool for tennis in order to stretch their tight muscles and encourage tissue resiliency. Tennis is a taxing game and the human body is truly stretched to its limits while playing tennis. Gym exercises and weight training will generally make the muscles hard and stiff however yoga will ensure to strengthen the muscles while keeping the flexibility of the muscles intact.
In tennis you need to have strong shoulder, arm and wrist muscles since with every stroke of the racquet a great force is put on these organs. Legs, spine and hip bear the brunt of the force while running in quick and multidimensional directions in the court. A tennis player might experience pain in the back, hips, legs and knees in case the body is just allowed to play tennis without working on the other body organs.
A few Beneficial Yoga poses for tennis players
Cat and cow movement is one exercise from Yoga that will help you warm up and stretch your back. This aids in the strengthening of the back muscles.
Gomukhasana also known as the Cow Face Pose is the best pose for the outer hips and arms. The Gomukhasana is an asymmetrical pose and will be helpful for you to know which side of yours needs more practice.
You can do wrist stretch in the cow face pose – Gomukhasana. While playing tennis a lot of the ligaments in the wrist might get damaged by repetitive movement of wrist. However with slow movements on the wrists in the cow pose you can easily make the tissues stronger and thicker which will aid in the wrist movement while playing tennis.
The pigeon pose helps players stretch their quadriceps, and hip flexors. The ParivrttaTrikonasana – Revolved Triangle Pose helps one to stretch the spine, chest and shoulders. This is the best pose to improve your balance which is very important while playing tennis. Strengthening and stretching the legs is another benefit you can easily reap from it.
Tree pose one of the most popular poses in Yoga helps in opening and stretching the hips which is quite essential and beneficial for tennis players. Tennis is not only a physical game as it looks to someone who has never played it or has just played it for fun. While playing tennis as a competitive sport you need to be fit mentally, physically and emotionally. Physical, mental and emotional health can be achieved with the help of Yoga, a vegan diet and meditation. The very personality of Novak Djokovic speaks volumes of his healthy lifestyle that has catapulted him to the Number one position in the world.
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