Tennis stars are supreme athletes
Paul Cassidy on Thursday • Published 2 Feb 2012 09:30
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As the Australian Open Tennis final came to a gripping finale, I wondered what a few Premiership managers or indeed any football manager throughout the world would make of the schedule of play for the two finalists. On the Friday Djokovic and Andy Murray played out an epic semi-final which lasted four hours and 50 minutes.
Two days later Djokovic had to take the court against the finest athlete tennis has ever seen. Murray must count himself unlucky to play in the same era which has given us Federer, Nadal and Djokovic - three great tennis players as well as three supreme athletes. I think that is where Murray is just lacking at this point; he certainly has the game to win a major but is not just as well conditioned as Nadal and Djokovic in particular. His new coach, Ivan Lendl will be all too aware of this and should bring an improvement to the Scot on both the physical and mental aspects of the game.
Nadal on the other hand overcame Federer in the other semi-final in four sets, this their 27th meeting with Nadal well ahead 18 wins to 9. Federer had not lost in five months, a run of 25 matches but Nadal had not lost to Federer since 2007 and the majestic Federer amassed too many unforced errors as Nadal continued his dominance over probably the greatest player of all time. The final itself was mesmerising as the two athletes slugged it out in a game which twisted and turned over five hours and 53 minutes, the longest grand slam final of all time. It is hard to imagine how these players reach the level they do and maintain the quality of tennis for almost six hours. I recall watching tennis back in the seventies when Nastase, Connors and Borg were the icons of the game.
The game was much different then and it centred around skill and subtlety. As with many other sports the conditioning of modern day tennis players has just kept rising and rising but just how far can it go?
The arrival of a young Boris Becker back in 1985 heralded a new age as the young 17 year old threw himself around the court in manner never seen before. Ability alone would no longer suffice to win tournaments as the women's game followed a similar pattern. Nadal arrived in to world tennis just before his 16th birthday and amazed everyone, even then, with his physical prowess.
His uncle is the once-fearsome Migel Angel Nadal, or the 'Beast of Barcelona', who during his time at the Nou Camp won five La Liga titles and the European Cup along with 62 international caps for Spain. His career and reputation were founded on tremendous physical displays and his nephew has followed in his footsteps. His actual training regimes are well guarded secrets which are overseen by his Uncle Toni who taught the naturally right-handed Spaniard to play left-handed.
We do know that he also asked his conditioning coaches to bulk Rafa up while still retaining his natural speed and athleticism. He has had serious problems with his knees which meant his training had to be adapted not to aggravate his joints. Working in a pool forms a large part of his routine as it minimises the stress on his knees. It is only over a year ago that it seemed Nadal would dominate world tennis for the foreseeable future.
Djokovic had been around but like Murray just wasn't up there with the big two. He was seen as talented but erratic and a bit of an under achiever. So what changed? He has discovered an inner self belief and confidence that has seen him move to world number one and now the question is, who can topple him? He had a reputation for bottling it under pressure but this has now disappeared and a lot of people have put it down to his greater physical prowess. He added a nutritionist to his team who cut out all gluten from his diet (breads, pizzas, pasta)and this has had amazing results for him, as his stamina has reached new heights.
The other aspect of his training regime is his use of a "fitness pod". This is a $75,000 egg-shaped, bobsled-sized pressure chamber which claims that spending up to 20 minutes in the pod three times a week can boost athletic performance by improving circulation, boosting oxygen-rich red-blood cells, removing lactic acid. Whatever he is doing it seems to be working.
As I said footballers may need to take a leaf from these tennis athletes and spend some time in these pods. Managers crying about footballers having to play twice a week while being paid £200,000 a week merely annoys everyone. Tennis is a non-contact sport I hear you say, well the way football is going it may also fall in to that category soon.
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