Hip Pain in Tennis: Why It Happens and How Physical Therapy Can Help

Hip pain is common in tennis players because the sport requires repeated sprinting, stopping, cutting, rotating, and pushing off in multiple directions. You may notice pain during serves, when changing direction, while reaching for a wide ball, or even after you finish playing.

At MIGHT Strength & Performance Therapy, we look beyond just the painful area to determine why the hip is being overloaded and what needs to improve so you can get back on the court with confidence.

Why Does My Hip Hurt When I Play Tennis?

Tennis places a unique combination of rotational and lateral forces on the hips. Every point requires the hips to generate and absorb force quickly.

Hip pain can develop when the demands of tennis become greater than what your body is currently prepared to tolerate.

A few common factors we see include:

1. Not Enough Hip Strength or Capacity

Your hips help produce power when serving, accelerating toward the ball, changing direction, and rotating through your groundstrokes.

If the muscles around the hip are not strong enough to tolerate repeated tennis sessions, the hip can become irritated.

That does not automatically mean something is torn or damaged.

Sometimes the hip simply needs to become stronger and better prepared for the demands of your sport.

2. Limited Hip Mobility

Tennis requires significant hip rotation.

If you are limited in how well your hip moves, your body may compensate through the lower back, knee, or other areas.

Improving hip mobility can help you move more efficiently while reducing unnecessary stress during serves and groundstrokes.

3. Poor Control During Cutting and Lateral Movement

Tennis is not played in a straight line.

You constantly have to shuffle, plant, cut, reach, and recover.

The muscles around the hip need to control your pelvis and leg when you rapidly change direction. If they cannot handle those forces, symptoms may begin to develop.

4. Limited Strength Somewhere Else

The hip does not work by itself.

Your trunk, lower back, knee, ankle, and foot all contribute to how forces move through your body.

Remember:

Where it is, it ain't.

Sometimes the painful hip is compensating for a limitation somewhere else in the movement system.

5. Sudden Increases in Tennis Volume

Hip pain often develops after changes such as:

• Playing more matches than usual

• Joining a league

• Increasing weekly lessons

• Playing tournaments

• Returning to tennis after time off

• Adding strength or conditioning sessions

• Suddenly playing several days in a row

Your body needs time to adapt to increased activity.

Sometimes reducing the workload temporarily while building strength is much more effective than completely stopping tennis.

Should You Stop Playing Tennis?

Not necessarily.

If you can play without significantly worsening your symptoms, completely shutting down activity may not be required.

The goal is often to determine how much tennis your hip can currently tolerate and then gradually build that capacity.

The body is adaptable. It is designed to move.

Rest may temporarily decrease pain, but if you return to the exact same workload without improving strength or capacity, the symptoms may come right back.

How We Treat Hip Pain in Tennis Players

At MIGHT Strength & Performance Therapy, your treatment plan is based on what we find during your evaluation rather than simply treating the location of your pain.

Treatment may include:

Manual Therapy

Hands-on treatment can help decrease pain, improve mobility, and make movement feel more comfortable.

This can be useful early in treatment, but it is usually only one part of the solution.

Hip Strengthening

We strengthen the muscles surrounding the hip so they can better tolerate the forces involved with tennis.

Exercises may focus on:

• Glute strength

• Hip rotation

• Single-leg strength

• Lateral strength

• Power production

Core and Trunk Strength

Your trunk plays a major role in transferring force between your lower and upper body.

This is especially important during serving and groundstrokes.

Improving trunk strength and rotational control can reduce unnecessary stress on the hip while also helping improve overall movement efficiency.

Single-Leg Strength and Control

Many tennis movements happen primarily on one leg.

That means rehabilitation should include exercises that challenge:

• Balance

• Single-leg strength

• Deceleration

• Lateral movement

• Change of direction

These exercises help prepare your body for what actually happens during a match.

Sport-Specific Progressions

Eventually, rehabilitation should start looking more like tennis.

We may gradually progress into:

• Lateral shuffling

• Cutting

• Rotational movements

• Accelerating and stopping

• Explosive pushing off

• Tennis-specific footwork

The goal is not simply to get you pain-free in the clinic.

The goal is to make sure your body is prepared to handle the speed and intensity of tennis.

What About Stretching the Hip?

Stretching can feel good, but constantly stretching a painful hip is not always the answer.

If the problem is that your hip does not have enough strength or capacity, additional stretching may not address the reason your symptoms developed.

Mobility can certainly be important, but it should be based on what you actually need.

For many tennis players, building strength and improving how the hip handles force is just as important as improving flexibility.

When Should a Tennis Player Get Their Hip Evaluated?

Consider getting your hip evaluated if:

• Pain has continued for several weeks

• Symptoms are becoming progressively worse

• Cutting or changing direction hurts

• Serving or rotating becomes painful

• You notice decreased speed or power

• Your hip hurts after every match

• You repeatedly rest but the pain returns when you start playing again

An evaluation can help determine what is contributing to your symptoms and create a plan for getting you back to playing comfortably.

Final Thoughts

Hip pain does not automatically mean you need to stop playing tennis.

In many cases, the key is determining why your hip is being overloaded, addressing strength or movement limitations, and gradually increasing how much force your hip can tolerate.

If your goal is to continue playing tennis long-term, you also need to prepare your body for the demands of the sport.

Build capacity. Build strength. Then get back to doing what you enjoy.

Ready to Get Back on the Court?

If hip pain is limiting your serve, groundstrokes, movement, or ability to play tennis, MIGHT Strength & Performance Therapy can help.

We evaluate the entire movement system—not just the spot that hurts—to determine what is contributing to your symptoms and develop an individualized plan to help you return to the court stronger and more confident.