Operation Doubles Tennis: TM: Your Tennis Energy Needs, Both Mental and Physical

By Tomaz Mencinger
TennisMindGame.com

Q: I am a 46 year old woman, fit and known for my endurance. I lift weights a couple of times each week, do cardio (outside of tennis) 3 days each week, and play 3 hours of tennis singles 4-5 days. I have been playing tennis for only 9 months, but advanced quickly and am on 2 leagues playing singles and doubles. I win more singles matches than doubles, about 50% overall. I am more comfortable at the baseline, but advance to the net given the opportunity. My matches tend to be long for women's 3.0 matches, usually 2½ hours or more and almost always going to 3 sets.

My question is this: Why during some matches do my arms start to feel like Jell-O? Last night I played in a doubles tournament and lost 7-5/7-5 in over 2 hours. We could have won; we were evenly matched. However, in the second set at 5-5, my arms just felt like well done pasta, and my serve was broken. I am beginning to wonder if it is mental because it doesn't always happen. Or maybe I am not eating right pre-game. I usually have some oatmeal, peanut-butter toast, and lots of water (we live in Louisiana, USA & and it is very hot). Also, I have noticed it happens more often in doubles games, but there I usually spend much more time at the net, and am keyed up more(?) My friends and I love your newsletter and web site. We find it amazing how you can "see" what is happening in people's head. I look forward to your advice.

I think you could be right on both of your ideas: it could be food, and it could be mental.

With food I mean energy. When running low on energy, some people first feel in the arms, others in the legs.

Make sure you eat carbohydrates - pasta - and not too much meat (since it take long to digest). I remember Michael Chang saying in one interview, that the best thing about not playing a tournament is that he doesn't HAVE to eat pasta. ;)

The other reason is mental and is also connected with energy, mental energy. You see, when you play a match you are under stress. There is pressure on you every few seconds. This is tiring for the mind.

And the same as we have certain fitness level for our body - an energy storage - the same way we have mental energy storage. You are using your mental fitness energy every time you are under stress.

In long matches you run out of your mental energy and this affects your concentration and at the same time your body. Mind and body are strongly connected, and tiredness in mind shows as tiredness in body and vice versa.

What to do?

You get better with practice. If you play long matches often, you will get better at keeping your concentration for a long time and being able to withstand stress for a longer time.

Also note that any stress outside your tennis life - such as family matters, job, money and so on - will take their toll on your mental energy reserves.

Copyright 2007, Tomaz Mencinger -- all rights reserved worldwide

Tomaz Mencinger is an athletic consultant who works with nationally ranked juniors at the Tennis Academy of Asia in Thailand. He is also the author of The Mental Manual for Tennis Winners and The Tennis Strategy Encyclopedia and How to Play Tennis: A Step-by-Step Video Instruction Guide for Tennis Beginners.