February 2014

According to USTA statistics, a tennis match can last between 45 minutes to 5 hours. Points duration typically lasts less than 10 seconds with a 20 to 25 seconds rest between each point. A best of 3 sets match requires 300 to 500 high-intensity efforts. Most of the time, tennis players do not have enough time to recover completely and restore after each match. So different strategies need to be put in place to help the player recover as fast as possible between games and tournaments, or after fitness and tennis practice, using hydrotherapies (such as cold, warm water), musculoskeletal aspects (like stretching, foam roller), dietary supplements (proteins). Sleep is also important to facilitate the anabolic process. Recovery is paramount to success. If done correctly, it can make a huge difference.

We have started a new series called, “Effective Coaching”. Many coaches feel they are “good”, But what does that actually mean? We are re-framing the question to be, “Are you effective?” Does what you coach and how you interact with the players actually transform the way they play? In many places, coaching could be described as, “a better player than you hitting with you (or feeding you balls) and telling you what you did wrong or throwing out “tips”. Not a very systematic approach. Can you imagine if children would learn math or languages at school through random “tips”? To really transform, a player needs the coach to create an environment that maximizes assimilation of skills.

Tennis may be being played in the warmer climes of Dubai, Rio de Janeiro and Delray Beach this week, but in this part of the world more people will identify with what Novak Djokovic was doing recently – cleaning the snow off the roof of his car.

On January 25th at the age of 76, my father, John Straub, died. My father’s first job in tennis was at the Slazenger-Dunlop Factory in Toronto. Wooden tennis frames would come from England completely unfinished and he would be in charge of completely finishing the racquets from: balancing; weighting; putting on grips; painting; putting on stickers and stringing. As a child I used to like going in on Saturdays occasionally with him; we would have the whole factory to ourselves and I would help put on stickers. He custom made my first racquet, wooden of course, when I was three years old.

The rise of talented tennis players from all over Europe has been on display for some time now on the WTA Tour and the ATP tour. But never has it been more apparent than at the 2014 Australian Open. With the first major of the season now in the books it is very apparent that the ‘old’ days of the USA and Australia dominating the Grand Slams are long gone. Tennis is being dominated by the Europeans and the numbers are staggering.

Exclusive tips from Roger Federer’s mother Lynette on ‘How to be a tennis parent’. It’s important that the child enjoys the game and isn’t forced into it. “I believe a child chooses tennis because he or she is attracted and fascinated by the sport, and that could be through the parents, friends or family.”