Your elbow probably isn’t the real problem.
More often than not, adult tennis players have a load management problem — not a “broken body” problem.
So Why Are Adult Tennis Players Breaking Down?
Let me illustrate this point with an example. A recent client outlined what had happened to him last summer as he was trying to get back into competitive tennis.
When returning to the court, he jumped back into playing 4–5 days per week because that’s what he had been accustomed to as a high-level junior and college player.
Within 2 weeks, his elbow was screaming at him. He never had elbow issues in the past, but the problem was clear — he ramped up his tennis way too fast.
I see this time and again. A player restarts playing or practicing after a long layoff — whether that’s because of an injury, a slow winter season or some other life-related reason — and then try to pick up where they left off.
Within a relatively short time frame, something gives. It might be the elbow, shoulder, knee, low back or hip.
What comes next is a hard stop from playing (like my client actually did). Followed by physio, massage, cupping, stretching or whatever other new recovery trend has inundated their social media feed.
Often, symptoms calm down less because of the treatment itself — and more because the aggravating workload has been temporarily removed.
Once they start feeling better, they return to the exact same schedule as before. Can you guess what happens next?
The cycle repeats itself until many inevitably stop and tell themselves, “my body is just broken.”
Your Body Isn’t Broken — You’re Just Doing Too Much, Too Soon
Your body IS NOT broken. It might feel like that in the moment, but the truth is, you’re ramping up too fast.
Too much intensity.
Too many sessions without enough rest and recovery between them.
Too much hitting volume within each session.
And practice setups that emphasize “grinding” rather than thoughtful progressions.
One concept often discussed in sport science is the Acute to Chronic Workload Ratio (ACWR). It essentially compares how much workload an athlete is currently doing versus what they’ve been prepared for recently.
If there’s a massive spike compared to previous weeks, there’s a higher risk of injury.
If the workload progresses more gradually, not only are injury risks diminished, athletes also tend to build greater resilience against injury over time.
READ MORE ABOUT THE ACWR HERE.
So if you’ve been sitting at a computer for the last 2 months and suddenly restart playing even 3x per week at a decent intensity, is that really a recipe for success? Or a flare-up waiting to happen?
Remember, your tissues have not adapted to tolerate what you’re currently asking of your body. It’s simply too much intensity and volume in too short a time frame, with inadequate recovery.
The flare-up becomes the most likely outcome.
A Smarter Return-to-Play Approach
The solution isn’t to stop tennis altogether.
It’s returning to it more intelligently.
For many, you almost have to treat your “return-to-play” (RTP) the same way an athlete returns from injury.
In this case, an early plan might look like this:
2 sessions per week
60 minutes per session or less
Submax intensities
No aggressive movements
Appropriate drill selections
Then you gradually build each of these variables over time. Sometimes ramping up only one of them, other times 2–3 of them — but still sticking to a controlled range.
While not the aim of this post, I’d also strongly recommend pairing this with a sensible off-court training program. But we’ll revisit that topic at another time.
Final Takeaway
Whether you’re coming off an injury or just time away from the court, both of these return-to-play scenarios should look more or less the same.
Because your body’s not broken — you’re just ramping up too fast.
And it’s really important to take a slower, long-term approach when returning to tennis.
For most players, that means doing a lot less than they might be accustomed to initially — and progressively building tolerance from week to week.
I know that ‘slow and steady’ is a cliché, but it’s usually what keeps players healthy enough to actually build momentum again — and allows them to play (almost) as much tennis as they desire.