Page 64 - Tennis Magazine April 2019

Whether you’re playing an opponent
in singles or teaming up for a
doubles match, tennis’ built-in social
component is a benefit all its own.

First, though, a word of caution.
As Steven Salzberg, a Johns
Hopkins professor of biomedical
engineering, wrote in Forbes, “This
was an observational study, based
on surveys of people’s behavior over
a 25-year span...It might be that
people who play sports are generally
healthier, and that leads to longer
life and allows them to play more
sports.”
It may also be that the socioeco-
nomic backgrounds of tennis players
are just as important to their health
as the sport they play. Tennis has
traditionally attracted an upper-class
clientele, and greater longevity is
increasingly correlated with greater
wealth in the United States.
Taken together, though, the
British and Danish studies suggest a intensity appear to be superior to out that in trying to pummel your
pattern, one that came as something continuous moderate physical activ- opponent into submission—all in
of a surprise to their authors, who ity for improving health outcomes,” good, friendly fun, of course—you
wondered: Why tennis? While the they wrote. may be helping your own psychologi-
sport is not as aerobically taxing as Tennis also forces its players to cal well-being.
some others, it has benefits that are exercise a variety of muscles in the “Belonging to a group that meets
both physical and emotional. upper and lower bodies, while at the regularly promotes a sense of
For one, the Denmark study’s same time taking less of a physical support, trust, and commonality”
authors speculated that tennis’ toll than running. the Denmark study’s authors noted,
quick-burst, anaerobic workouts may Emotionally, tennis has something “which has been shown to contrib-
have lasting advantages. that no other solo activity can offer: ute to a sense of well-being and
“Short, repeated intervals of higher a built-in social component. It turns improved long-term health.”
In tennis, players work out strate-
gies, either on their own or with
Researchers found that people who doubles partners. They engage oth-

ers competitively and cooperatively.
played tennis added an average of They form new social groups off the

9.7 years to their lives, compared court where the stakes are lower
and less stress-inducing than they
to 3.7 for cyclists, 3.2 for joggers are in their work and home lives. The
circumscribed, leave-it-all-on-the-
and 1.5 for those who worked out. court competition we get from tennis

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