This is the second (and final) article of a 2-part post on ‘things I’ve learned over 10 years in tennis’. If you haven’t read the first part, you can check that out here.
6. Off-court preparation is real...and it works!
I recently saw a post on a Facebook coaching forum. It was actually a question that went something like this, “coaches, have you seen any of your players improve their tennis because of their physical training?”.
My hand immediately covered my face and I began shaking my head in disbelief (no, no, no...it can’t be).
My answer to the question is an emphatic YES! Of course I’ve seen - on numerous occasions - physical preparation directly benefiting a player’s tennis game. Nearly every player I’ve ever spent a considerable amount of time with has improved their on-court performance because of what we’ve done off the court (except for a couple instances...one of which I will share below, so keep reading).
Here’s an example. I started working with a player (his name is Razvan) in January of 2019. To give you a bit of a back story, Razvan was 18 years old at the time, had just finished a block of Futures events in Europe - sprinkled in with some training at an academy in Italy. He was just out of juniors, physically weak and had very little power. Over the span of a year or so, he made massive leaps in various performance measures - and this had a big impact on his tennis.
Not only with his ranking and results (he obtained both ATP singles an doubles points for the first time in his life, won a few open events and his UTR jumped by over 2 points); but objectively, both he, his training partners, competitors (and myself), saw big differences in his movement, fitness and stroke production. Below are some before and after stats.
Those are some of the objective measures that we tracked - and worked on - over that period. There are others, but those are some of the more prominent ones.
Note how his forehand and serve speeds shot up drastically. Did we work on some technical things as well? Yes, sure. But technique alone cannot account for those big jumps within a 1 year span.
This is just one example. Almost all the players I work with see increases like this. And many of my colleagues who work with pros, NCAA players and even younger juniors, also see these types of results.
7. You need a LOT of time to see the fruits of your labor (talking months and years).
But not only did we do a fair amount of speed, power and strength training with Razvan, it was his dedication to the gym that made the biggest difference. For the better part of that year, he was training 4-5 days/wk off the tennis court (on top of his on-court training). It’s this type of consistency - over many many months - that delivers results.
It’s important to realize that he’s a bit older (19 years old as of this post). And has had a fair bit of training, and maturation, under his belt. So it’s not uncommon to see these types of results. But for some, it may take years for physical training to truly pay dividends.
In a documentary, the swiss legend Roger Federer said it took him about 3 years of periodized physical training to ‘see the fruits of his labour’. He was about 20 years old when he committed to improving various physical attributes...and by the time it all came together, he was holding his first Grand Slam trophy at Wimbledon.
Now, of course, he also has tremendous talent & skill, a support team, and so on. But even the great Roger admits that when he’s playing his best tennis, it’s when his movement is on point.
All that to say, as cliche as it sounds, you must stick to the process. Because when in comes to improvements in physical fitness (and ultimately, on-court performance), time truly is a key ingredient.
8. As you get older, your training regime (and lifestyle) will have to adapt & change.
The biggest mistake I made in my own training was trying to keep the same workout structure into my late 20s, as I had in my early 20s.
Constantly overtrained, I badly wanted to improve, I just didn’t take the necessary time for rest and recovery. I didn’t structure my training regime appropriately (which is one reason I share so much of this stuff on my blog now!). And I didn’t take into account the fact that I wasn’t 20 years old anymore. That I had other responsibilities. Other stressors.
And that’s the major point. At a certain age, not only has the tennis body been through a lot - the wear and tear of hard court tennis, the off-court fitness regimes, the travel. But most tennis players have other things going on in their lives. A partner. Children. A team to manage. And lots more.
In 2019, I had a short consulting stint with Sabine Lisicki. It was short because, to be frank, I had a preconceived notion of how she should train, if she wanted to be back inside the top 100. The reality was, she was almost 30, had seen her fair share of injuries. Had to deal with the mental stress of being a top player. And then losing her ranking entirely. It’s a lot to handle.
And while I had the best intentions, I probably didn’t listen well enough. And didn’t help her find a common ground between what she wanted and what I thought she needed.
It was a tough lesson to learn, but an important one. One that any coach and a player can learn from. We change as we get older. And how we train, sleep, eat and live; those areas need to change too.
Me working with Sabine at IMG in March 2019.
9. Mental training is SO important - everyone knows it...very few do anything about it.
Mental skills training probably doesn’t get enough attention. We all know it’s important, but we often push it off to the side - or push it onto others.
I’ve written about some of these topics in the past. If you want a more in-depth look at some of these, I urge you to check out the following posts (link posts here).
http://www.mattspoint.com/blog/the-concept-of-grit-and-its-role-in-elite-sport-part-1 http://www.mattspoint.com/blog/super-champions-research
But besides that, what I truly believe is this. If a player isn’t in the correct frame of mind, and we continue to push them on the tennis court or in the gym, it’s of no use to everyone involved. In other words, it’s a waste of time.
In these cases, we either need to find a way to get the player into the right frame of mind, or we need to give them a break. Some of my mentors have actually asked their athletes to go home (even if the training had just started). I’ve done it once - and while the player wasn’t happy in the moment, they thanked me later.
You see, if a player isn’t there mentally, they won’t be there physically either. The two go hand in hand. If you’re a coach and you don’t know enough about this topic, not only should you refer them to a mental skills coach, you should seek some information yourself. Because it’s a soft skill we should all have some basic understanding of. And some skills to implement when the time comes.
If you’re a player, you can’t rely on your coaches all the time either. Sure, we all need a helping hand once in a while, but it’s not enough. Players need to acquire the mental skills necessary for them to defeat their own inner demons.
I’m not saying I know this topic inside and out (I really don't). But I do know it’s REALLY important.
10. Tennis players eat way too many so-called ‘healthy bars’.
For some, this might seem funny or silly. For me, it showcases a greater problem. Most in tennis have very little knowledge when it comes to nutrition. They either believe that, because they’re training volumes are so high, they can afford to eat whatever they want. Or they’re following the latest all vegan, all natural, diet fad.
While there’s nothing inherently wrong with a mass manufactured energy bar - or any ‘health-benefiting’ product for that matter - we must understand that any food lies on a spectrum. Take a potato as an example - some will argue that they’re ‘bad’ and will contribute to weight gain (oh boy, I hope that’s not you!). Others will say they’re a great source of vitamins and minerals (vitamin b6 and potassium in particular), and consider them a ‘smart’ carb (I hope that’s you).
Ultimately, perhaps what we should be asking ourselves is “Does this food add value to my body? Does it nourish me and benefit me?”
On top of that, we should probably ask ourselves - when am I eating this item? How much am I eating? How often? How fit and active am I? In what form am I eating this food? And a host of other questions.
The same can be said about many types of foods, including health/energy bars.
For some, perhaps the bar they get from the health food store is their best option - for that moment in time. And that’s ok. But we need to know that a spectrum does exist - and not from bad to good but rather, from not as nutritious to more nutritious. Or from ‘eat more often’ to ‘eat less often’.
Check out this terrific infographic (many different types of foods lie on this sort of spectrum).
At this point, you might be asking yourself - “what does this guy know about nutrition?”. Well, it’s not my primary area of interest but it is a huge interest of mine. I was accepted into a masters program in sport nutrition prior to deciding to go in the direction of sports science as a whole.
Regardless, I do have a nutrition coaching certification from Precision Nutrition (the leaders in nutrition coaching/certifications) and I talk about - and help my players navigate through - various nutrition topics on an almost daily basis.
Final Word
Perhaps an even more important lesson that I’ve learned is this - there’s still lots to learn about the performance field as a whole. Tradition tells us one part of the story, but not all of it. It’s important to seek new insights, new research, new ways of doing things. While the field of sport science is still relatively young (and surely has holes), it still helps steer my decision making. I urge all to take time to reflect on - and continue developing - their coaching, their tennis and ultimately, their personal growth.