In 2011, I learned an unforgettable lesson about the importance of fitness training. The day after I took the bar exam, I played tennis and worked out as much as possible. I had slaved away for the past 4 months studying 10+ hours a day, and come hell or highwater, I was going to make up for the lost time! It proved to be a foolish move. I wasn't fit enough to workout in the morning, play tennis for 2 hours, and workout again in the evening, but I tried to anyway.

I still remember the moment I pushed up from the 9th rep of a high-bar squat during my evening workout, when I heard a crack. My knee was in pain, and when I visited the doctor, he diagnosed me with a knee condition called chondromalacia. Gulp. 🙁

I underwent several months of rehab exercises and weird knee creaking noises whenever I stood up from a seated position. It was during this time that I first understood how important it is to have an organized, goal-oriented, and sensible approach to fitness training. Without it, I wouldn't be able to play the game that I love for much longer.

Tennis players routinely ignore and underestimate fitness training with well-thought out comments, such as "fitness doesn't matter bro, work on technique." Fitness does matter, way more than the average tennis player comprehends.

This realization motivated me to become a certified Tennis Performance Trainer by the International Tennis Performance Association (iTPA). I've also interviewed some of the greatest tennis fitness experts on the planet on my podcast, like Dr. Mark Kovacs, Todd Ellenbecker, Allistair McCaw, Dean Hollingworth, and Dominic King. And I had the pleasure of attending the iTPA World Tennis Fitness Conference in July, where I met Andre Agassi's fitness coach Gil Reyes.

There are several key fitness principles I've learned which, based on speaking to many of you in my audience and reading tennis forums, are either unknown or not practiced by much of the tennis community. Your talent will never be realized if you don't put in the work to level up your fitness. Below are the 11 most important fitness principles that improved my tennis game.