Over 200 national tennis federations are affiliated to the International Tennis Federation, the governing body for tennis. The standard of medical care provided by each national federation to its tennis players various enormously. The biggest challenge in providing this medical care is that it has to be achieved within a frame work that is totally controlled by coaches and the ATP/WTA/ITF tournament schedule.

Another obvious challenge is that, at the elite end, most players are travelling on the ATP or WTA tournament circuits for nine to ten months of the year. The season starts in early January before the Australian Open and ends at the end of November with the Davis Cup final. Each week, tournaments suffer when one or two of the big “marquee” players have to withdraw because of injury. Recently players have voiced their concerns about the effect of the long season and its impact on the development of potentially career threatening injuries.

As a general rule, many of the top tennis nations have developed centralised medical clinics, often at the headquarters of the national federation, to provide …