Part 2 - THE PERFORMANCE PROBLEM - ‘THE TENNIS TOUR’ FROM A PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE PERSPECTIVE

*This is the second part of a 2-part article. If you haven’t read part 1, click here.

Fatigue 

When you have a potential 11-month competitive season that doesn’t have a clearly defined off-season or pre-season, combined with the myriad of factors above, there is a very real possibility of player fatigue and burn-out if schedules are not managed appropriately. Tennis players are no different to other elite athletes who are continually trying to balance on the tight rope of fatigue vs performance.

In addition to the previously mentioned nutritional interventions, in extreme conditions players may also look for further methods to combat fatigue including heat acclimation protocols in the lead up to events, alongside science-backed cooling and recovery strategies for match days. With the rapid evolution of science, technology and companies sitting in the recovery, sleep and performance enhancement space, support teams should be in a position  to provide scientific and research backed practical advice to their players.

Given the need for players to consistently accumulate or defend ranking points, there is often the temptation for players to play every week, which dependant on the success (or lack of) within each competitive week, may not be unrealistic. There is however a need to periodize the training day, week and year to factor in periods of rest and recovery, which calls for a collaborative and agile approach to high-performance planning to ensure that the player is given the best opportunity to excel on the match court. In combination with the wisdom and experience of the coach, objective data can be collected to inform decision making through players utilising daily monitoring or wellness scoring systems that provide insight in to the physiological and psychological readiness to train or compete.

Injuries

Much like any other sport, tennis is physically demanding and places immense strain on the body. The repetitive movement of a sport involving high-speed accelerations, high-speed decelerations, high-speed changes of direction as well as the repetitive high-speed, high-force impact of shots on the upper limbs, there is a very real risk of overuse injuries. Due to the gruelling schedule of the tour, it’s likely most players at some point during the season will be carrying physical ‘issues’. Considerations around how best to manage these must planned, allowing players to continue to compete, whilst also maintaining sufficient exposure to physical load during a training week. With experience and expertise, decisions may be made to alter the structure of on-court practices to avoid exacerbating the issue, competition schedules may be adjusted, as well as adapting off-court training in the short-term.

Fatigue and Injuries – ‘The bigger picture’

The bigger question here for all players is, are they physically prepared for the demands of the sport? Do they have a way of quantifying match load and comparing to training load? Do the acute and chronic (short- and long-term) training loads expose players to sufficient volume and intensity to ensure they are not over- or under-cooked? How does this look in a full training week as opposed to a 3-day turn-around between competitions?

Performance teams should already have a clear strategy in place to enhance the physical development of their players, which should be focused around reducing the risk of injuries and/or enhancing on-court performance. This long-term approach to physical development should be guided by player and coach but be grounded in objective markers from physical testing data that can be referred back to at different time-points during the year, as well as utilising the wisdom and experience within the team.

Psychological Factors

Whereas the majority of the above factors can clearly identify physical performance considerations, the reality of tennis is that there are a large number of psychological detractors at play. Most players will register a loss every week, with only one victor per tournament, per week. Whilst psychologically this is tough, players must aim to maintain balance and motivation as for the most part, the reality is that they will face a loss most weeks. This requires a team of professionals around a player to enable this process. Whilst there is always the potential for the outcome of matches to influence short-term thinking, once the dust of a loss has settled, the team (including the player) should be confident in being able to refer back to the performance strategy that has identified and is targeting the long-term development of technical, tactical, physical and phycological outcomes. 

Additional mental stressors may include; maintaining ranking points, pursuit of prize money, media obligations, sponsorship commitments, external pressure from fans, sponsors and the media, feeling of isolation being away from home and family, among many other intricate factors beyond the scope of this article.

Coach and Support Team Dynamics 

Large sporting organisations have teams of discipline specific experts that are all employed to work with their players, however, within tennis, each player on the tour has their unique coaching set-up. Many of the top players choose to travel with a full contingent of staff, some have a smaller team, whereas other players go without support teams all-together, potentially based on financial reasons or personal preference, but at what cost?

Some of the most successful teams and companies around the world have prioritised creating dynamic, high-performance environments to allow their business or team to outperform the competition. In a world that is more connected than ever before, is there the opportunity for players to access world-class performance support from anywhere in the world, and utilise the experience and expertise of performance specialists, without simply selecting personnel on convenience?

Final thoughts…

Whilst this article is not exhaustive, it does provide insights into the many challenges that players on the tour have to face whilst still being expected to perform, in addition to highlighting some of the challenges that strength and conditioning/physical performance coaches face. The article has intentionally provided a headline-summary of some key factors that need to be considered within the performance environment, however, many of the topics covered are extremely complex and multi-factorial in nature, and require further insight in future articles.

Given the constraints of the sport and the subsequent potential performance detractors, our challenge here as coaches is how we can conduct our work in the shadows to create the optimal environment that affords the players the best opportunity to perform and ultimately 'shine under the lights'.