Tennis is Good For You: Examining the Benefits Tennis Provides

By now, we all know how good tennis is for your health and wellness. Tennis leads to a longer life expectancy compared to other sports and, especially, a sedentary lifestyle.

Throughout 2023 we will highlight some of the core benefits associated with tennis, focusing specifically on the physical, mental, social and educational benefits that come from playing tennis.

Health Hits

Health Hits is a series inspired by the late Steve Henry where we explore these benefits in short, easy to digest pieces. He was extremely passionate about the many health benefits associated with tennis and we will honor his legacy by continuing to feature them. View the video library here.

All benefits work together in the end, but we like to break them down into individual area. Through the first quarter of the year we fosuced on the physical benefits of tennis. They may seem like the most obvious, but they're vital to keeping tennis as the sport of a lifetime. Tennis adds years to player's lives and keeps them physically fit later into life more than other sports. Read about how two local league players use tennis to keep themselves active through their pregnancies.

Our main focus in the second quarter in on the mental benefits of playing tennis. These benefits include general well-being improvements such as reduced stress and improved critical thinking skills. But tennis also helps with brain development and cognitive wellness, including emotion regulation. USTA Missouri Executive Director Leslie Echols is an associate professor of developmental psychology at Missouri State Univeristy. We had the chance to chat with her about the many benefits of tennis and how they all work together to help players.

Learn more about: Physical, Mental, Social, Educational