Off Court
In my last blog entry, I talked a lot about injuries in tennis, how I see the topic, and potential issues or solutions. This came naturally since it’s a current topic within the sport and because we’ve faced three surgeries within twelve months (basically forcing us to deal with the topic).
Now I’m happy to say we are back on the tennis courts daily. A question I got a lot during those injury periods was: “What are YOU doing? Are you just chillin’?” Well, I’m always chilling — what do you expect? No okay, jokes aside, let me enlighten you a bit on what side quests I’m on during “off-court times,” how my work changes, and something I struggle with.
November was the month of the comeback. It was the month where we started hitting yellow fuzzy balls again (and a lot of ball cans). Obviously, you can’t go from 0–100 real quick like Drake does it (if you know, you know). That’s why we started slowly with about three hours of tennis in the first week, five hours in the second, and so on. Is this just freestyle? No, it’s not.
Before picking up the racket again, I have talks with each member of the team — multiple talks. I want to hear everyone’s reflection and opinion on the situation. I want to figure out what we did wrong, what could have been better, and what needs to be done to improve. For that to work, we all need to pull on one string – which is not always easy. So my job moves from on-court coaching to meetings, reflections, and planning. I want to learn from it. I want to do better. These meetings don’t fill the whole day, but they still take a lot of time, since each talk needs preparation, leads to new ideas, or brings new challenges. At the same time, all the injury-independent work continues: season reflections with Leandro, goal settings, and tactical or technical analysis.
Once the tennis gets back on track, my focus shifts – this time to rebuilding the training load. I try to plan the weeks efficiently: how many hours of tennis make sense, the intensity of each session, the content, and the balance between rehab, athletic training, tennis training, and recovery. As I would call myself his main coach (since I spend most weeks with him), I see it as my job to make sure everyone works well together. So those 90 minutes that people see us on the court are not just “my 90 minutes of work” for the day.
Sometimes though, I do feel guilty about how chill my work life might look from the outside. I’m aware that other people work more in terms of hours during these times. I can’t have meetings the whole day every day. So, I need to make sure I’m not overthinking things or overanalysing them, and once something is done and dusted, I have to leave it there. On the other hand, I try to make use of the free time I do have, because while others enjoy weekends or, in December’s case, Christmas days with friends and family, we will be sitting on an airplane preparing for the new season. Or we’ll be away for 5, 6, 7 weeks in a row without being home. So, there are also stretches where I have zero time to take care of my social life.
So, you see, I don’t check out once my player is injured and check back in once he steps on court again. I could do that, but that’s not my coaching approach. It’s beyond the tennis court.
Speaking of Beyond: These times at home also allow me to intensify my work for Beyond Sports and help develop the company further. There is always something to do — for Beyond Sports, for Team Leandro, for actual coaching, or for educating myself in different areas. I feel lucky to say I enjoy all of it.
In December, we’ll be intensifying the preparation for the new season. By the time I write the next blog, I will have visited two other continents… so stay tuned! Leave feedback if you like or share this blog with your friends.
Wishing everyone happy holidays! And see you soon between lines.