Sirola Training Systems

Shuffle vs. Crossover Step in Tennis

Dalibor Sirola — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:27:06 +0000

Few days ago, I received a question from one of my colleges in the Piatti Tennis Center about when to you use shuffle versus crossover steps. Below I’m sharing with you, my answer. In tennis, shuffle steps and crossover steps are well known footwork patterns, which are used in different situations depending on distance from the ball, time, and balance needs. A simplistic way to think about these...

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To Squat or Not to Squat: Strength Training Considerations for the Tennis Population

Dalibor Sirola — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 16:23:05 +0000

Few exercises spark as much debate in tennis strength and conditioning as the squat. Is it essential for performance? Is it risky for shoulders, knees and backs? Should juniors squat at all? And what about players with limited mobility, or the hypermobile ones? The truth, as usual, sits somewhere in the middle. The real question for tennis players isn’t “Should we squat?” but rather “How, when...

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Tennis Developmental Youth Training Model

Dalibor Sirola — Tue, 09 Jan 2024 07:37:26 +0000

Tennis Developmental Youth Training Model The Tennis Developmental Youth Training Model (TDYTM) represents a framework for the development of physical skills, and it’s based on chronological and biological age of every athlete. Here I want to highlight one important consideration, I’m not talking only about chronological age, we need to take in consideration biological age as well. Meaning...

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The Autonomic Nervous System – the conductor of the human body

Dalibor Sirola — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 10:28:51 +0000

This guest blog post comes from Piatti Tennis Center strength and condition coach Leandro Mosconi: Every athlete must know their profession and themselves. Self-knowledge is key to understanding what recovery techniques and routines work best for you. It is important to start experimenting with different techniques from a young age to identify what suits you better depending on the context.

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SLIDING ON CLAY – training approach on and off the court

Dalibor Sirola — Thu, 25 May 2023 08:15:04 +0000

As every modern sport, tennis game is also becoming faster and more powerful by putting higher athletic demands on players who, between other things, have to show strong defensive skills in order to win the points. Being able to return more balls and cover the court faster is absolute must when playing on the highest level. In order to achieve this players must be able to slide.

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SHOULDER ANTERIOR – SUPERIOR MIGRATION IN TENNIS PLAYERS

Dalibor Sirola — Sat, 10 Sep 2022 16:31:54 +0000

In my opinion, anterior -superior shoulder migration is the most common posture abnormality among tennis players. And there is a good reason to be so, but on the other hand, this also can be a major cause of shoulder joint aches and pains. What is a shoulder anterior-superior translation? * example of the left shoulder in anterior migration It is a position in which a glenohumeral joint is not...

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Anatomical Planes of Motion

Dalibor Sirola — Sun, 13 Mar 2022 17:07:25 +0000

ANATOMICAL PLANES OF MOTION Why they are so important to understand – trainers view Everything we do from a movement perspective is happening in one of these planes, or more often in a combination of two or even all three of them. To be honest in my early years as a strength and conditioning professional, I had a hard time understanding these anatomical planes of motion and their importance in...

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A Diferent View on How to Stretch

Dalibor Sirola — Sun, 07 Nov 2021 18:47:23 +0000

Stretching for years is considered an essential part of the training process. Advocates of stretching claim that it helps reduce injury, improve performance, and aid recovery. However, a number of studies have shown that stretching doesn’t actually produce all the positive physiological effects that were once thought to be true. My idea is not to get involved in the endless discussion of whether...

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Tennis – the most challenging sport to succeed?

Dalibor Sirola — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 14:42:04 +0000

In my opinion and without any dilemma tennis is the most diverse sport with so many uncontrollable situations in the modern sport today, period! I know this is a “heavy” statement! Throughout my career, I was fortunate to work with athletes from different sports and disciplines, European football, basketball, mixed martial arts, alpine skiing, and handball. However, it was before I started my...

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General Warm Up

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 13:26:04 +0000

When I was lucky to closely work together with John McEnroe, I asked him what kind of training regimen was back in a days when he was on pro tour as one of the best players. He told me “we were just playing tennis, almost without warming up, if you don’t count 3 minutes jogging before match or practice and maybe some stretching.” This is the BIGGEST REASON WHY CAREER OF PROFFESIONAL TENNIS PLAYERS...

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