If you play competitive tennis, it will happen more than once in your lifetime that you suffer an injury. Most common are muscle pulls and tears, tendonitis and sprains. Some injuries you can play through, and some are so painful that you can't stand on the court. The simple answer is that if you want to recover from a tennis injury, you need to rest your body and take time off from playing. Depending on the nature of your injury, it is possible for you to continue playing for a short time and rest the injury later.

Playing injured puts a new perspective on your tennis game. No longer can you rely on a "normal" game plan, because the injury may not allow you to execute your shots the same way. The tennis match now turns into more of a thinking game, because that has just become your strongest weapon.

Some players believe it is best not to let your opponent know you are injured. It could give them a psychological advantage over you, and allow them to change their strategy to take advantage of the situation. On the other hand, it has been proven time and time again, even in the pro ranks, that one of the most difficult things to do is play against someone who is injured because you let down and become distracted. Every case is different, and it really depends on how you handle the situation.

It is possible for you to be successful in tennis, even with an injury, assuming it does not severely impact your movement or stroke production. Regardless of what your injury is, it is probably a good strategy to try and make the points as short as possible. This means you will want to hit deep approach shots, preferably up the middle to cut down the angle, and come to net. Of course if your opponent has a very weak backhand, you would want to approach to that side.

Chip and charge is also a good strategy to employ on return of serve and in tight games, as it will put pressure on your opponent to come up with a great passing shot. Especially if they know you are injured, it is going to be difficult for them to come up with shot after shot. Even if you don't have the world's greatest volley, your opponent doesn't know that, so keep the pressure on and look for unforced errors.

With your body not functioning 100%, your strongest weapon is your mind. Regardless of what your normal game is, you need to let your mind take over and get you through the match. That means do whatever works, which is not necessarily playing your favorite shot all the time. If you have success hitting lobs, then hit lobs. If you are missing your down the line, then don't try for as much. You need to be mentally tough and keep your unforced errors down. Play smart and work everything you can into the points by mixing it up. This will give your opponent a different look and not allow them to get grooved in.

This is also the time to bear down and focus on big points. Because you're injured, you want to take advantage of every situation. If you have a chance to go up break point on your opponent's serve, or a mini-break in the tiebreak, that's the time to play smart tennis. Keep the pressure on but play with controlled aggression. Let your opponent know you aren't going to give it away, and they are going to have to beat you to win.

Whether you win or lose, or even if you don't finish the match. make sure you take care of your injury. Take in plenty of fluids and get treatment as needed. It may help to wrap the area if possible, and take ibuprofen to reduce swelling. Before the match, be sure to make time and do some serious stretching. After the match, continue with the stretching and get some ice on the injured area. At some point, you will be faced with the decision to take some time off so that your body can recover. Only you can decide when the right time is, but continuing to play will most likely make the injury worse. Listen to your body.