You are jerked from a pleasant dream by the sound of melodic chimes that are meant to be soothing.
It’s a weekend morning and you have a tennis game in half an hour.
After the usual morning routine, you head over to the kitchen and grab a full breakfast and a strong coffee.
“That’ll wake me up and give me plenty of energy for the game”, you think while making a cuppa.
And this, my friends, is a classic recreational player’s pre-match routine.
Does it provide the required energy for the game? No.
Do you feel awake and ready for action by the time you get on court? No.
Are your muscles and joints ready for the work cut out for them? *drumroll* No.
Why Skipping Tennis Warmup Is Silly (And Dangerous)
The truth is, most recreational players wake up and go straight to the match.
They play sleepy, “cold” and with a foggy mind.
This results in poor reaction time, unforced errors, slack serve, avoidable injuries and an ineffective mental attitude towards the game.
They just haven’t wired themselves for great physical performance before the match.
People just give in before they even start playing, frequenting the thoughts of going back to bed after they get back home.
As you would have experienced yourself, players like this are easy to beat because they’ve done half the job for you already.
Just like described, I used to wake up and go to play tennis after breakfast.
I felt bloated and lazy after food, and my body was refusing to play particularly well first thing in the morning.
My mind was occupied with clutter instead of focus.
By the time I was on the court, the coffee high would have worn off and I was left with a crash – not the best foot to start a match on.
This resulted in losing to opponents whom I had beaten before or who I should have won against because, on a good day, I played better tennis than them.
This was obviously frustrating, so I knew some system should be put in place and started the research.
From a variety of advice – some from my dad, some from tennis videos and some from psychology books I read a while ago, I’ve stitched together my current routine (that works).
The Winning Pre-Match Tennis Routine
Once you go through this pre-match routine you’re ready for action.
Your body is warmed up and stretched, your circulation has a kickstart before its full capacity is required, and your mind is focused and conditioned for success.
This routine only takes 15 minutes before the match (plus 30 minutes on the court to warm up).
If you still think this takes too long (we humans are very change-averse) then pick one or two points from this routine and try them out for 30 days.
Then add more if you want, or change the swap ones if they’re not working for you (I promise they will).
1. Cold shower after you wake up
In today’s fast-paced world, our alarm clocks dictate our sleeping patterns instead of the natural light (sunrise and sunset).
We get used to waking up at a certain time during the work week and our sleep cycle ends nicely when the alarm goes off.
If your match is on a weekend morning, chances are it isn’t as early as your work during the week.
You set your alarm later than usual, and it messes with the sleep pattern you’re used to.
A typical sleep cycle takes about 90 to 110 minutes (we have a number of these during the night).
If you wake up at the end of the cycle – perfect!
You’re ready for action with a clear mind and a supple body.
If you wake up in any other part of the cycle – you know what that feels like…
Grogginess that you can’t shake, stumbling into walls, wondering what planet you’re on etc.
So, why am I telling you this?
Because there are only two ways to kick yourself out of a broken sleep cycle: wait for the cycle to complete (could be 45 minutes if you wake up in the middle of it) or *drumroll* a cold shower.
This is one of the most effective biohacks I use (almost) every day.
Cold showers have multiple other benefits including better circulation, reduced inflammation and an optimised immune system, however today we’re interested in alertness more than anything.
Even if your game isn’t in the morning, taking a cold shower will (sustainably) wake you up better than any caffeinated beverage.
If you’re new to cold showers, Wim Hof (The Ice Man) recommends starting with your usual hot shower and finishing with 10 seconds of cold water, slowly building up to 60 seconds over a few weeks.
You can find more info about Wim on his website: Wim Hof Method.
2. No food or coffee 1.5 hours before tennis
To understand why this is very important, we need a quick recap of how our nervous system works.
Our autonomic nervous system has two parts: sympathetic and parasympathetic.
“Each system is dominant under certain conditions. The sympathetic system predominates during emergency “fight-or-flight” reactions and during exercise. The overall effect of the sympathetic system under these conditions is to prepare the body for strenuous physical activity. More specifically, sympathetic nervous activity will increase the flow of blood that is well-oxygenated and rich in nutrients to the tissues that need it, in particular, the working skeletal muscles. The parasympathetic system predominates during quiet, resting conditions. The overall effect of the parasympathetic system under these conditions is to conserve and store energy and to regulate basic body functions such as digestion and urination.” (McCorry, 2007, p3).
From this definition, you can see that we really want the sympathetic system active.
If you have food just before the game, your “rest and digest” system will activate, making you sluggish and lazy on the court.
1.5 hours is generally long enough for the food to digest and for the parasympathetic system to be satisfied with the result.
Now, a special mention about coffee.
Caffeine is basically stress in a cup (at least that’s how your body perceives it).
It gives you an adrenaline rush and kicks the sympathetic system into gear.
“That’s exactly what we need!” you might argue and would be partially correct.
However, coffee has a temporary effect, a crash following a high, so you might be energised for the first few games but start feeling lazy afterwards.
If you have a long match ahead of you, you really need a sustainable and predictable level of energy.
To achieve that, simply don’t have food or drink coffee right before the match.
3. Intention setting
The next part in preparing yourself for optimal performance is the mind.
We must tell our body what we expect it to do and how to perform.
One of the quickest ways of doing so is through a power meditation (as I like to call it).
This quick process involves first relaxing and then setting an intention in your mind.
Here’s how it works:
- Lie down or sit in a comfortable position and close your eyes.
- Focus on relaxing each part of your body one by one, starting with your head and finishing with your toes.
- Hold attention to each body part (muscle group) for a couple of seconds and feel it becoming warm, relaxed and soft.
- Once relaxed, set an intention by repeating a sentence 5 times to yourself.
A good intention to start with is: “I intend to play tennis to the very best of my ability”.
You can play around with the wording to concentrate on a specific aspect of your game, such as having a good serve, a reliable forehand, etc.
Notice how we don’t focus on the outcome of the match – we can’t control that.
What we can control is a program for our own bodies that we put into our heads before the match.
4. Power breathing
This one is taken from Tony Robbins’ priming exercise – his 10-minute morning routine to get into peak state.
- Sit with your back straight and close your eyes.
- Do a deep inhale through the nose while lifting up your arms as if you want to grab an invisible chin-up bar above your head.
- Forcefully exhale through the nose while bringing down your arms as if you are doing a chin-up.
- Do 3 sets of 10 breaths, resting for a minute between each set.
Don’t do large or forced inhales between the forceful exhalations – just let the lungs fill up a little with air naturally and focus on exhaling.
You will feel energised and ready to go after this short but powerful exercise.
Tip: try doing the whole priming exercise at some point – the clarity and energy it give you to start your day is awesome.
5. Off-court warmup
This sounds so simple and logical, yet not many players do this.
To prepare for the match (especially in the morning) you need to have warm muscles and joints for optimal performance (and safety).
Here’s a quick tennis warmup routine that covers the whole body to get you started.
Feel free to add bits and pieces to this routine as you see fit, as long as you do a warmup before the match!
Tip: if you currently have a problem area (e.g. sore muscle somewhere) be sure to give it special attention during warmup – rub it with your hand and give it a good stretch. The same goes for after the game.
6. On-court warmup
Ideally, you need 30 minutes of tennis to properly warm up before the actual match.
It is enough time to cover the basics and get your heart rate up (very important before any prolonged physical activity).
Warming up for longer than 30 minutes might tire you out too soon (depending on your fitness level).
You can use elements of my proven training drill – the idea is to cover all basic shots: volley, groundstroke, serve, and smash.
Bonus tip: keep your mind on your own game, and try not to think (or care) about the opponent – you’re doing your own thing because that’s what you can control.
Wrapping up
To perform physical activity well, we need to be warmed up, focused and ready.
By combining these morning routines with off-court and on-court warm-ups you will be ready for action when the game starts.
More likely than not, your opponent would have just gotten out of bed and had a coffee.
This gives you an unfair (but planned) advantage from the get-go.
You will notice the difference in your performance levels and will win more matches.
Another advantage is using precision over power – get the insider tips in this guide: Win More Tennis Matches Using Precision Not Power.
What do you think of these? Have I missed anything? What routines do you have to get yourself ready for the game?
References
Patel AK, Reddy V, Shumway KR, et al. Physiology, Sleep Stages. [Updated 2024 Jan 26]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526132/
McCorry LK. Physiology of the autonomic nervous system. Am J Pharm Educ. 2007 Aug 15;71(4):78. doi: 10.5688/aj710478. PMID: 17786266; PMCID: PMC1959222. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1959222/