What To Carry In Your Tennis Bag? [These Are a Must]

When heading to the court, you have to fill your tennis bag of choice with items that are necessary in order to prepare for your training sessions and matches perfectly and to stay competitive in tournaments.

Not all the players carry the same gear, but there are important items that every tennis player more or less always puts in his bag.

If you are a tennis beginner or even an established player, this is what you need to carry in your tennis bag:

Racquets: beginners carry 2 to 4 and pros carry up to 12 racquets
Tennis Balls: one or two cans of fresh balls
Jump Rope: Important for warming up

Shoes & Sandals: Extra pair of tennis shoes, casual shoes, and sandals for the shower
Drinks: Water and healthy electrolyte mixes
Snacks: We recommend dates and some fruit

Towels: In-court towel and shower towel
Clothes: Changes of dry tennis clothes and casual clothes
Bags: Helpful to stow sweaty clothes and shoes apart from the rest

Grips & Strings: Backup if your ones break
Sun Protection Items: Hats, UV Sunscreens, Headband, Wristbands, Lip balm…

These Are the Essential Items to Carry in a Tennis Bag

Racquets

Obviously, you need racquets in your bag to play tennis. Most beginners and intermediate players carry 2 to 4 racquets to the court, as they are enough to have fun or to compete at local tournaments.

Professional players on another hand, carry between 8 and 12 racquets to the tournaments. The reason for that is that they have them strung at different tensions, to switch according to the match circumstances.

Occasional players might even carry one racquet only since they play rarely.

Tennis Balls

A can or two of new balls are always good to bring with you, either for warming up or for training.

If you play a competitive match, the organizers should give you fresh balls to play with.

Jump Rope

A jump rope is an essential item to have in your tennis tool kit. Always keep one with you so that you improve your quickness, timing, and coordination.

There are a few beneficial cardio exercises you can practice with a jump rope:

Hops
Jumping jacks
Criss-cross

Front/Back split step
High Knees
Kickbacks

Upper body Criss-cross
Rope swing side-to-side
Double unders

Credits to coach Michael Harper from usta.com

Shoes & Sandals

You never know what is going to happen on a tennis court.

A backup pair of tennis shoes is necessary in case your one comes apart.

In addition, remember to carry sandals in case you want to shower or to just hang out around the club or the hotel if you’re traveling.

Drinks & Snacks

The fact that you’re sweating during the match means your body is losing its minerals like sodium, calcium, potassium, and magnesium.

When the body gets dehydrated, a bottle of water and an electrolyte-rich mix (colorful) are essential to maintain your physical performance at a high level.

For the snacks, we highly recommend eating dates rather than bananas or tablets, or other choices of food.

Novak Djokovic is an example of a player who only eats dates during matches. The reason is that dates give you a regular level of energy throughout the match, while other sugary fruit or tablets provide a spike of energy for a short amount of time but then let you down with lower stamina left for the rest of the match.

Towels

A towel is useful to dry your body from sweat while playing. Also, after you take a shower in the club or the hotel, you should have your own shower towel with you.

Sun Protection

When you play indoors, there is no point to carry such items. But when you play outdoors on a hot day, it is necessary to protect yourself from the sun and the heat.

Remember to stow the following items:

Hat: to protect your head

Headband: for when you become all sweaty
Wristband: to remove sweat from your body
Sunscreen: This is essential to protect your skin from UV rays when you play under the sun for hours. But try to avoid greasy products like traditional lotion that might get your racquet slippery.

Vaseline & Lip balm: Players may consider putting some lip balm or Vaseline in their bag in case their lips get dried out during play.
Sunglasses: They can be useful but not while playing unless you have eyesight problems.

Extra Clothes

Obviously, changes of clothes are important after every match. In addition, you have to think about the weather especially if you’re traveling.

If it is cold, long sleeve shirts, pants, and jackets would be very useful to pack in your bag.

Moreover, if you shower in the club after your tennis session, you should stow your casual clothes and a bag for your sweaty clothing gear.

Grips & Strings

After 2 to 4 hours of intense tennis, the grip becomes sweaty or might break up. An additional piece of grip would be useful.

The strings might break after a few hours of competitive tennis. Therefore, you should bring with you your preferred strings in case your stringer doesn’t have them.

Dampeners

This is an optional accessory. Not all the players use dampeners on their racquets.

But if you use one, you need to carry an extra dampener in case you lose yours, which happens often.

What to Carry In Each Type of Tennis Bags?

In a Backpack

If you love to go to the court with a backpack, you can carry:

2 racquets
Strings

Extra grip
Balls
Drink & snack

Keys, wallet, phone.

In a Tote Bag

For women who love to bring an air of fashion and bring something convenient at the same time, here is the list of what they can pack in their tennis tote bag:

1 to 2 racquets

A can of balls
Drink & Snack
Sunscreen & Sunglasses

Lip balm & Vaseline
Grips and strings
Keys, wallet, phone.

In a 6-pack

A 6-pack is a whole lot more spacy and provides you with extra pockets and nice features like ventilated pockets and heat resistance.

They also come with resistant materials like nylon or polyester.

You can usually carry the following items in a 6-pack bag:

Up to 6 racquets
Extra Grips and strings
2 cans of balls

Change of clothes
Hats, sunscreen, and sunglasses
Extra pair of shoes

Towel
Jumping rope
Drinks and snacks

Keys, wallet, and phone

In a 9-pack or 12-pack

A 9-pack would be the ideal choice if you want it all. Whether you’re traveling for a tournament, or just practicing at your club, a 9-pack tennis bag offers you plenty of room for everything you need as an amateur or as a pro.

For pros having long trips, they carry 12-pack or even 15-pack bags. The reason is that they can bring with them multiple racquets strung with different tensions. They also offer more room compared to 9-pack bags.

Typically, in a 9-pack or 12-pack tennis bag you can carry: