Tennis Tips : Preparation for a Tournament – Part 2
In part 1, I covered the essential preparation leading up to the day of the tournament and covered issues such as work-outs, tennis practice sessions and optimum nutrition. In this tennis tips article, I will cover the actual day of the tournament.
So you ate a carbohydrate rich meal about 2-3 hours ago and you are feeling fit and ready to go. Here is a check-list of items to include in your tennis bag.
- - Spare racket – ideally one that is matched (same weight, balance, strings, string tension, grip size) to your primary racket
- - Spare tennis shirt. It’s nice to be able to change into a dry shirt when you have split sets or between games.
- - Spares socks – same reason as above
- - Spare hat
- - 2 towels. It’s good to have two because the first can get very wet especially on a very hot day.
- - Some lotion to treat cramp.
- - Sun block. Don’t forget this or you could really suffer during a long, hot tournament.
- - Cold pack – just in case of sprain or muscle injury
- - Plastic bags – good to hold ice (from your water container) in case of sprains/injuries
- - Band aids
- - Ankle supports, knee supports. Just in case something unexpected happens.
- - A few bananas and energy bars. To top up between sets or matches.
- - Spare balls for warm-up sessions.
- - Large canister of water with ice. The ice can be used to help with injuries, if necessary
- - Several bottles of your favorite sports drink. This is necessary to top up on electrolytes lost through sweating that you can’t get from water alone.
- - CD or mp3 player with your favorite music to keep you relaxed during breaks between matches.
Try to arrive at the even early enough to give yourself time to calm yourself and focus on the match. Remember that your opponent’s ranking has no relevance at all to the match you will play today (see previous article). Just focus on your own game. Usually, for tournaments, the official warm-up time is 10 minutes but if you arrive early enough, you might be able to find a hitting partner who will help you warm up your strokes. Don’t go crazy! The idea is just to warm up and get your footwork and timing in order.
In the actual warm-up before your match, use the ten minutes wisely not only to warm up, but to study your opponent’s strength and weaknesses. During the warm-up, try to at least know the following about your partner:
- Are they right or left handed?- Yes we’ve all been guilty of this one. We are 3 or 4 games into the match before we suddenly realize that we are playing a left-hander !
- How do they handle deep forehands or backhands, especially one that bounce high?
- Which side is stronger?
- Are they good at volleying?
- Do they move well from side to side and front to back?
- How do they handle spin, both top spin and back spin? Many hard hitting players hate low back-spin shots which keep low over the net, so try a few during the warm-ups.
- How do they handle overheads?
- How well do they serve?
Knowing these strengths and weaknesses from the warm-up session will give you a real advantage going into the match itself. Hopefully, these simple tennis tips will help you next time you prepare for a tournament.
