Show Notes
Tennis players need far more than clean technique and a strong forehand. They need to be fast, powerful, durable and able to recover well enough to perform across an unpredictable, year-round competitive schedule.
This week, Richard Graves is joined by Joshua Dragone, Head of Athletic Development at Dukes Meadows Tennis Academy, to explore what effective physical development looks like in tennis.
Joshua explains why tennis S&C demands a different approach: players may be travelling, competing, dealing with limited gym access or adjusting plans after every match. He shares how he identifies the key physical qualities to target, creates structure without becoming rigid, and helps young players build the recovery, hydration and fuelling habits that support long-term development.
The conversation also looks at maturation, the influence of social media on junior training, and why parents, tennis coaches and athletic development coaches need to be aligned around the individual athlete.
In this episode you will learn
Why tennis requires athletes to develop speed, power, change of direction, robustness and energy-system capacity at the same time.
How to plan physical preparation around an unpredictable tournament schedule.
How to identify the one or two physical priorities that matter most for an individual player.
Why growth and maturation should shape expectations and programming in junior tennis.
How to use training windows effectively when players are travelling and competing.
The role of sleep, hydration and fuelling in availability, recovery and performance.
Why junior tennis players are often under-fuelled — and how practitioners and parents can help.
How consistent warm-up and recovery routines reduce friction on competition days.
How to respond constructively when players want to copy professional athletes’ social-media training.
Why alignment between player, parent, tennis coach and S&C coach is essential.
About Joshua Dragone
Joshua Dragone is the Head of Athletic Development at Dukes Meadows Tennis Academy in West London. He joined the academy in 2021 as a Senior Athletic Development Coach and moved into his current role in 2022. With more than a decade of coaching experience across sports including rugby, football and tennis, Joshua now specialises in helping junior tennis players become faster, stronger and more robust through developmentally appropriate, athlete-centred programming.
FREE 7d SCIENCE FOR SPORT ACADEMY TRIAL
SIGN UP NOW: https://bit.ly/SFSepisode241
Learn Quicker & More Effectively
Optimise Your Athletes' Recovery
Position Yourself As An Expert To Your Athletes And Naturally Improve Buy-In
Reduce Your Athletes' Injury Ratese
Save 100's Of Dollars A Year That Would Otherwise Be Spent On Books, Courses And More
Improve Your Athletes' Performance
Advance Forward In Your Career, Allowing You To Earn More Money And Work With Elite-Level Athletes
Save Yourself The Stress & Worry Of Constantly Trying To Stay Up-To-Date With Sports Science Research
More from Science for Sport Podcast
Does the way we talk about aerobic and anaerobic training help us prescribe better conditioning, or can it lead us towards the wrong sessions?
Can athletes learn to grow from pressure, rather than simply recover from it?
What can a saliva sample tell a performance team that a blood test taken a few times a season might miss?
How much does the surface beneath an athlete’s feet really affect performance and injury risk?
Few people are better placed to chart the evolution of sports science in professional football than Simon Grayson.