Shubert Thoughts About Upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and Do Pros Lift Weights?

Written by: Staff on 17th November 2011

BNP Paribas 2011 Masters Tennis Tournament

Shubert Thoughts About Upcoming ATP World Tour Finals and Do Pros Lift Weights?

David Ferrer of Spain returns the ball to John Isner of USA during their quarter final match at the BNP Paribas 2011 Masters Tennis tournament in Paris, France, 11 November 2011. EPA/HORACIO VILLALOBOS |

As the ATP World Tour Finals approach, I’ve taken some time to try put myself in their shoes on the day the draws came out. They’re swarmed by media asking them about their “chances” in this year’s event and how they feel about their draw – as if they’ll ever admit to doubting themselves publicly or consider their opponents not worthy in such a scenario. They’re probably getting acclimated and settling into their personal routines in England, making sure equipment, housing, scheduling, and overall emotional levels are taken care of and stress free. I can’t imagine the amount of excitement each player is probably feeling – You’re about to play at the O2 Arena in front of passionate tennis fans from around the world where the theatrical stage of the venue makes the event possibly more entertaining than some Slam tennis. But yet when you think about that for a second, here you have an event where only the elite 8 players in the world are invited to play, essentially ruling out the possibility of bad tennis right…? Anyway, this year’s event is everyone’s chance to spoil Djokovic’s party. Nadal has an opportunity to right his course and go into the off season on a positive note rather than a negative one. Andy Murray has a shot to become #2 in the world and capture a title in his homeland in front of friends and family, an opportunity he may never get again! Everyone’s pick for the event based on past results and current from is obviously Roger Federer, the legend that is so incredibly hard to beat indoors… The kicker is that this is the year where Fed didn’t win a Slam… Thus giving him even more incentive to take the World Tour Finals and salvage something. Djoko and Nadal are also coming off injuries, and in the big moments Murray has never been able to beat Fed (Fed usually dictates the outcomes of their matches anyway). Personally, how can you doubt Fed’s chances at this point? As far as Ferrer, Tsonga, Berdych, and Fish, that group might be able to cause some upsets of the top 4 players, but it will take a tremendous effort for that to happen. Powerhouses Tsonga and Berdych have the firepower, Ferrer has the grit and determination, but when you look at both of those strengths compared to what the top 4 all possess, you see that inevitably it’s up to the top 4 to lose it in head to head matches.

What are the players doing physically to prepare? At the end of the long season, I’d imagine all of them need rest. At the same time, you can’t go into the World Tour Finals rusty?! How much is too much? How much is too little? As professionals I’m sure they know the perfect process that benefits them. I myself would try to keep things rigorous but focus more on upkeep of the body. Currently, I’m seeing a physical therapist who performs dynamic resistance on my shoulder, putting me in constant serving positions and angles to strengthen the entire shoulder. You become fatigued very quickly when you focus on just specific areas of muscle contraction and movements, and the resistance is generated to and fro by the therapist, so you get double the workout. I’ve heard this method of physical therapy called “PPF” for those of you therapists out there, but I didn’t catch the medical terminology, I’ll ask specifically on Friday when I head back to the office. But essentially why I’m bringing this up is because to me, these resistance workouts don’t leave me feeling sore and make me feel dynamically and internally stronger. The positives here are overwhelming to those of lifting weights or even resistance-band workouts!!! I’m thinking right now that Fed, Djoko, and Nadal have their sophisticated physios all performing these techniques on these guys to the point where their shoulders, knees, wrists, and ankles will NEVER break down. If I had the dough, I’d want to hire Larry Brown (One of my training buddy’s dad who’s currently helping me out), or the exact same guy with same level of expertise to travel around with me and keep me strong! I’m not 100% sure about what pros do with their physios, but with all evidence pointing to the fact that Fed doesn’t lift weights and his “slight” upper body shows it, or that Nadal has never lifted a dumbbell either due to training by the Spanish guru-trainer that used to train Moya… Maybe these guys stay so physically strong, lithe, and flexible because they’re just increasing their core/internal muscles and not the external ones through weight lifting. Makes perfect sense to me, but you be the judge of your own game and physicality. These are just a few of the thoughts rumbling around in my brain about the upcoming World Tour Finals, thankfully Tennis Channel is replaying some of the better matches from last years event nightly to quench my thirst for tennis on TV haha

Finally hit a few balls today,

Shubert

Topics: Atp, ATP World Tour Finals, Shubert