Tennis

Electrolytes help maintain fluid balance, help muscles contract, and help neurological signals get from the brain to the muscle. Natural sources of electrolytes are mainly going to be fruit and vegetables, but to get enough sodium you may need to resort to sports drinks, gels, or blocks that have added electrolytes.
 
Transcript: "How do electrolytes impact athletic performance and what are some natural sources? Well, they impact athletic performance because they help to maintain fluid balance. That's really the number one thing, but it also helps with our muscles contracting. It helps with neurological activity, the signals getting from our brain to our muscles. So it's really important to have electrolytes because we lose them in our sweat. Number one thing we lose in our sweat in terms of electrolytes is sodium. So what are natural sources of sodium? There's really not a lot of natural. There's a little bit in some of the foods we eat that is there naturally, but most of the sodium is going to be added to our foods. Now, naturally you can get a lot of potassium from fruit, vegetables too, but most likely you're going to do fruit if you're exercising or right before you exercise. Other electrolytes are magnesium, chloride, calcium, but very little that we lose of those compared to really the sodium and then the potassium. So, best source really is going to be some of the products that are made for athletes like sports drinks, the gels, the blocks, you know, any of the things that are manufactured for athletes. They put in a lot more of the sodium and potassium. Of course, like I said, you could do fruit, but then you're not getting the sodium. So some people like to eat some pretzels or get other things to get that salt too."

Examples of low glycemic meals and snacks include nuts, yogurt with berries, banana with peanut butter, carrots and hummus, guacamole with toast, beef or turkey sandwiches, etc. These snacks and meals contain fiber, protein, and fat which helps to delay how quickly blood sugar rises.
 
Transcript: "What are some examples of low glycemic meals or snacks? So think about what brings the glycemic index down. So glycemic index is basically how quickly does my blood sugar go up and then how quickly does it go back down again? So fiber, protein, and fat. Those are the three things that help to delay how quickly that blood sugar is gonna go up. So anything with fiber, protein, or fat in a meal or a snack is going to give you a little bit more lasting energy, be a little bit more low glycemic. So for example, nuts. Nuts are fiber, protein, and fat. So if you can have those, you know, handful of almonds or pistachios or walnuts or whatever your nut of choice is, that's gonna be great. I love yogurt as a low glycemic snack. I might throw some berries on there. Maybe if I want a banana, I might have a little bit of peanut butter with it. I might have some carrots and hummus. I might have some guacamole with some toast. And so bread is gonna be higher glycemic, but once I put that avocado on there, that's gonna bring the glycemic index down. Some people like to do, you know, beef turkey or even a half a turkey sandwich. You know, any time that you have that protein, meals are usually low glycemic because you've got protein at the meal. It's the snacks when we eat just one thing at a time that tend to be a little bit higher glycemic. So again, just remember fiber, protein, and fat. Any one of those three will help to delay how quickly that blood sugar is gonna go up."

Tennis doesn’t have an offseason and players have to practice and quickly implement any changes they want to make. They should practice the change every day and try to add it into their matches as often as possible to make it a habit.
 
Transcript: "I think the answer to this question is an interesting one from the standpoint that tennis doesn't really have an offseason and we do have a little bit of an off season in pro tennis. But if you're competing in junior, tennis if you're playing Collegiate tennis, and then you're playing tournaments during the summer, you don't have a lot of time off. You have small training blocks and in those training blocks, if you've made a decision with your coach, that you're going to make some adjustments in your game that you're going to do something different. Whether it be mechanically Tactically. I think that you then want to try and Implement that into your practice matches and your actual tournament matches as quickly as you possibly can with the recognition that if you're doing something different, or you doing something new that. If you do it two times three times in the first match or two, after you recognize and start working on it and making that adjustment that you're in. Implementing that within the match, you may not do it every single time, but if you're doing it a few times here and there, then you're adding it into your game. Hopefully, the next match you do it, a few more times, the next match you do it, a few more times until it becomes a habit and that's what you want to have happen through practice, that it develops and becomes a habit. So you practice it every day, in practice, you implemented in the matches right away. And as often as you possibly can within the matches, Has. But again, if you do it once or twice, two or three times in the first match or two that you play after you decide that it's something that you do want to add into your game. Then you're doing a good job. Keep it up. Try and add it more often."

In general, we have a plan to focus on certain areas of Tommy's game that need improvement or can be added/decreased. We discuss the plan and collaborate with Tommy to make sure he is comfortable with the plan. We also ask Tommy if there are any areas he would like to focus on more.
 
Transcript: "How do we prioritize? What we work on in practice with Tommy? Good question. And again, this is one of those. It depends how close are we to a competition is, are we at the start of a training block? How much time do we have before? He's going to compete again, those types of things? But in general, we have things within his game that we're focusing on to try and improve whether they be technical or tactical mechanical or tactical. And we're trying To focus on those, for example, Tommy's in the middle right now of a two-week training block, and that's coming off of the Grass Court season. And with all surfaces, I think you learn something. New about your game from competing on different surfaces. So there were areas of his game that we saw within the Grass Court Season that we now want to focus on either improving or adding or decreasing certain aspects of what he's doing. And so, So we create those as as Focus points in this two-week, training, block to be prepared. Now, for the rest of the hardcourt season. So, again, it does depend a little bit. But overall, we generally have a plan. I create a plan really for, for what we want to try and focus on, we discuss that we want to make sure we're on the same page once we get to the practice court. So he's in agreement. I also asked him if there's areas that he's feeling uncomfortable, Thor, that he that he wants to focus on a little bit more, so, we'll will corroborate, and, and collaborate a little bit in preparing, for practice sessions and and getting ready as well. So, I hope that answers your question and all the"

I prefer to play a closed stance shot whenever I have the option, as it generates more power and penetration than an open stance. I also like to think about what is the ideal position for me to hit any given shot from, and try to create that position as often as possible. The open stance should only be used when forced to, such as if you misread the ball or your opponent's shot is extremely well-placed.
 
Transcript: "If I have the option to play a closed stance or an open stance shot, which one do I prefer? That's an easy answer for me. I'm going to go with a closed stance. If I have the option. Every single time, I'm going to generate more Pace more power, more penetration from a closed stance generally than I am from an open stance so I'm going to almost always opt for that open stance. And I think that leads also into a thinking Process for me, as a coach that I like to push my players to try and think about what's the ideal position that they would be hitting any given shot from. And if they can create that ideal position, then why would you choose to do something other than the ideal? So if a more closed stance, whether it's a backhand or forehand backhand side, we tend to be a little bit more closed than the forehand, but Even if it's a semi closed stance on the forehand side, that allows us to to load and transfer weight, we're going to be able to do a lot more damage from that position. So try and be able to find your ideal position. As often as you can use the open stance when you're forced to based on your opponent's shot. Something they've done extremely well, or if you've misread the ball, maybe you're in a position where you have to play an open stance, but I don't think you choose the open. Stan's. I think the open stance chooses you based on the ball, you're receiving."

On neutral balls, aim to hit 2-3 feet inside the lines to maintain consistency and limit errors when playing offense.
 
Transcript: "The answer to this one is one of my most common answers to a lot of questions. It depends, it depends on a lot of things. And one of the things you added into your question was, how does Court position depend on this? Which is one of the factors. Obviously score makes a difference, there's a lot of different factors that are involved, but in General on neutral balls and or defense, you should be aiming probably at least two, to three feet. Inside the lines to try and maintain consistency and execution on those kind of balls. It's also interesting. If you think about it, we make the majority of our errors in tennis trying to play offense. And if you think about that, it makes sense, offense. We generally try and hit the ball bigger. We try and hit it a little bit lower, and we try and hit it closer to the lines. So, managing the balance between neutral balls when you have to play defense and then concentrating on, really executing on the offensive balls that you get. And those opportunities to limit your heirs when you're playing offense. Because again, those are when we make the majority of our heirs. So to recap on those neutral balls on a basic rally ball, let's give ourselves about a 2-foot margin inside the sidelines, the Baseline, and think about hitting a little bit, more of a heavy ball than a fastball on those kind of plays."