Off-Court Rigors and Logistics of Playing on Tour – Shubert Blog

In my previous posts I’ve talked mainly about the mental side of tennis as well as my own thoughts about playing tennis. I’ve been lucky to have played at a high-level from my late junior career, through my collegiate career, and now hopefully further into a professional career. But today’s post is more about the behind-the-scenes action that makes high-level tennis possible. Now let’s talk logistics (No this is not a UPS commercial!)

The best players in the world this past decade, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Roddick – They all have many things in common when it comes to logistics. They each employ a staff or team of people around them to help support them while they travel and endure the rigors of playing professional tennis. What that means is, they have people to take care of their every need for them so that they, as the player, can focus on what they do best and not have to worry about life’s daily issues. Food, equipment, hotels and travel, physical treatment, business affairs, and scheduling are big factors that these top players rarely have to think about. It’s all mapped out, it’s all taken care of. How? Simple, these players are their own “conglomerates” and have the finances to be able to to. So how does a player like myself handle those same issues? Let me tell you.

Around me, I have a team as well. Aside from my direct family, my team is made up of by friends and extended family. I have coaches all over California, friends in local tennis communities, mentors, training buddies, and junior players I work with. When we travel around, WE SHARE EXPENSES. We eat at affordable restaurants, stay at affordable motels/hotels, try to cut costs by asking for friendly discounts from tennis shops or from our peers, using the USTA Pro Circuit group-rate codes at tournament hotels. Anything and everything to try and cut costs. Let me take you through a typical match day for me in terms of food intake when I am on the road, staying at a hotel or friend’s house. The past few weeks of tournament play consisted of an early wake-up with breakfast in the hotel lobby ($10), usually consisted of eggs, sausage, toast, and potatoes. Sometimes throw some yogurt in there, orange juice, or milk. (Of course if I’m at a friend’s house, I’ll have to purchase my breakfast material separately and cook it myself if I want to eat, keep in mind the cost of time this takes). I mainly try to stick to water as a beverage so that I can’t blame anything running through my system too quickly. As we leave for the tournament site after breakfast, we all pile into one car, and usually stop at a super market on the way to pick up water, carb beverages like gatorade or powerade, bananas, and granola bars (Anything healthy to nibble on throughout the day). My coach at BYU taught me that one, always have something handy to munch on because you never know when you’re going to have to go on court and you don’t want to go out there empty handed! So a powerbar or cliffbar will do the trick to fight off hunger for an hour or two. Lunch consists of Subway. I swear, Subway should sponsor tennis tournaments around the world, everybody goes there on match days (No this is also not a Subway commercial, it’s just a fact). Anyway, I always order a roasted chicken breast sandwich or roast beef sandwich, marinara sauce, swiss cheese, lettuce, spinach, salt and pepper, mayo, and parmesan cheese. Costs me about $9 with drink and cookie included. Supposedly it’s a healthy, light, and calorie rich meal with nutrients. Apparently that’s good for us tennis players! haha. That brings my total around $20 bucks for the day so far. Keep in mind, we’re always stuck at the tournament site until everyone is finished playing, no matter how early the matches on that day start, or how late they finish. There’s no going back and forth, wasting gas and money, between the site and our digs. This also keeps us engaged in the tennis mindset, that you cannot just show up at a site and play, you have to become familiar with your surroundings and be involved in your environment. Tennis tournament sites can be very fun after all, you never know who you’ll meet and run into! After the tennis is complete for the day, a quick shower and everyone will meet in the lobby to go to dinner. It is most often always Italian food. Pasta, chicken, salad, bread, olive oil. Did you know Nadal will eat pasta with no sauce, with salt and olive oil? He fears sauce might give him indigestion so he avoids it. He also doesn’t eat tomatoes, cheese or ham (I read this in his new autobiography: “Rafa”). Anyway, dinner usually will run you $10-$20. So all in all, with 3 meals, snacks, you’re looking at food cost being $50 a day when out on the road. Back to my original thought about the top players, they don’t have to worry about running around getting meals. They have people to go get them food and bring it to them. Essentially they live as if they’re at home, even though they’re out on the road thousands of miles away from their actual houses and dining rooms. Expenses for these players? What expenses…? This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Travel expenses: Plane tickets, scheduling of plane tickets, entering tournaments, (for pros like Fed and Rafa, media obligations), hotel reservations, car reservations… the list goes on and on! These days, I have to manage all of these things on top of keeping myself physically and mentally fit to last 3 or 4 hours on court daily at my highest intensity. Seems insane doesn’t it? Top pros don’t have to worry, they know there’s another tournament next week, another city, another flight lined up. I’m sort of at a loss at the moment, not paying attention to details of when my next tournament run will take place, where I’ll be able to pick up more ATP points… That’s why it’s necessary to have a team around. My coaches take care of some of these logistical burdens because they are not the ones playing, their energies can be stretched to meet other needs other than keeping us humble and prepared. When you travel with a friend, maybe the friend books the room and you just pay him cash to split the bill evenly. All these needs and requirements take time. Time away from the court, time away from hitting forehands or working on my serve, or stretching in the gym/fitness center. Logistics, if not taken care of in advance, can make your life on tour a rocky one. I’m lucky that in my current situation, my friends and coaches look out for my needs. I can’t thank them enough for that. Despite all the expense, wear and tear of life on the road, living out of a suitcase, it sure is damn fun. So you might as well endure however difficult, expensive, or uncomfortable times can be, because after all, if you are organized and disciplined enough, you may be the next Nadal! (Check out his autobiography titled: Rafa – It’s a top 10 seller already and is an amazing read. You’ve never heard another professional tennis player share his personal insight the way Rafa Nadal does. Thought by thought he takes you through his pre-match routine and humbling beginnings in Mallorca, an amazing dude on and off the court, I really recommend his book).

Don’t sweat the small stuff,

Shubert