An effective warm-up for pickleball, padel or tennis takes around eight to ten minutes and follows four stages: a pulse raiser, dynamic mobility for the hips, spine and shoulders, activation work for the calves and rotator cuff, and progressive shadow swings before live play begins. Skipping any of these stages, particularly when you are short on time before a match, is one of the most common and avoidable contributors to injury in racquet sports.
Most players either skip a warm-up entirely or do a handful of static stretches that do very little to prepare the body for the explosive, repetitive demands of court sport. The routine below takes less time than queuing for a court and makes a genuine difference to both performance and injury risk.
Stage 1: Pulse raiser (2 minutes)
The goal here is simply to raise your heart rate and warm up your muscles before any stretching or mobility work. Light jogging on the spot, side shuffles along the baseline, or skipping all work well. You should finish this stage feeling slightly warm, not out of breath.
Stage 2: Dynamic mobility (3 minutes)
Static stretching, where you hold a stretch still for thirty seconds, is best saved for after play. Before play, dynamic mobility, where you move through a range of motion repeatedly, is far more effective at preparing the body.
Work through the following, ten repetitions each side:
- Leg swings forwards and backwards, holding the net or a wall for balance
- Walking lunges with a gentle rotation towards the front leg
- Arm circles, building from small to large
- Trunk rotations with arms held out to the sides
Stage 3: Activation (3 minutes)
This stage specifically wakes up the muscles most heavily used in racquet sports and most commonly injured: the calves, the rotator cuff, and the glutes.
- Calf raises, fifteen repetitions, both legs together then alternating
- Resistance band external rotations for the shoulder, fifteen repetitions each arm (a light band kept in your bag is ideal for this)
- Lateral band walks or bodyweight side steps, ten each direction
- Single-leg balance, twenty to thirty seconds each leg
Stage 4: Progressive movement and shadow swings (2 minutes)
Finally, bring the previous three stages together with sport-specific movement at increasing intensity. Shadow your forehand, backhand and serve or smash without a ball, starting slowly and building to near full pace. Add a few split-steps and changes of direction. This final stage bridges the gap between general preparation and the specific demands you are about to place on your body in play.
A ten-minute warm-up is the cheapest insurance policy you’ll ever take out on your season.
Why this matters more than most players think
Most racquet sport injuries, including tennis elbow, shoulder pain and calf strains, are overuse injuries that build up gradually rather than happening from a single bad movement. A proper warm-up will not eliminate that risk entirely, but it meaningfully reduces it by ensuring the tissues being asked to work are actually prepared to do so, particularly important in the first few minutes of a session when injuries are statistically more likely to occur.
Adapting the routine to your sport
The core structure above works well across pickleball, padel and tennis, but the shadow swing stage should reflect your specific sport. Pickleball players should include dinks and volleys at the kitchen line. Padel players should add wall play movement and overhead smash preparation. Tennis players should include serve preparation and baseline groundstrokes.
When a warm-up is not enough
If you are warming up properly and still experiencing recurring pain, the warm-up itself is unlikely to be the whole story. Underlying strength deficits, movement restrictions or technique issues often need to be addressed directly, which is where a structured movement screening becomes valuable.
