Shubert Daily Blog

Written by: Staff on 23rd August 2011

Shubert Daily Blog |

Hey all!

I managed to get back to California from Hawaii with all my rackets and luggage intact! And like any Monday, the beginning of the week provides new deadlines and pressures to face! I started off my Monday by fighting through a bad head cold, running nose, and headaches. It made practicing a little more difficult than usual, but hey, everybody has been through worse! These little aches, pains, or sicknesses are a given on the tour and you’d be surprised at how many lurk behind the scenes during some of tennis’ historic moments! I think Nadal is a great example of a competitor who plays through everything. Have you ever seen him retire from a match? Oh wait, he plays through fractures in his feet and the biggest blisters imaginable by any tennis players’ standards. Guess that’s why he’s such a tough beast to take down!

Anyway, I practiced at the Advantage Tennis Academy today with a few of the juniors that live and train there. I am always surprised to see the ball coming back faster and faster by these younger players! However, sometimes consistency and those placement/positional shots come into question the longer points tend to go on. When hitting practice was over, I managed to catch up with one of ATA’s coaches who also puts in time with my string provider, Solinco. As I transition away from my college sponsorships, I’m in the market for a new racket, and it just so happened that this coach had a few of the frames I was looking to demo from Solinco. He gladly let me borrow them for the week as well as string them up how I desired. Sweet! However the day was still not over, as I headed to the gym to pound my legs back into shape (A few too many days in Hawaii can cause severe damage to one’s overall conditioning!). After some weight lifting and treadmill runs, I did some core-work and ended with stretching. I was spent after an hour’s work but despite being under the weather, you have to keep putting in the hours. . I stopped by a local supermarket, picked up some of my favorite energy foods and headed home to string up my new demos. I’m excited for training this week; I’ve scheduled a bunch of good practice sessions already and hope to update you soon on any developing improvements! I hope to spend some time in Los Angeles as well as Santa Barbara later this week so stay tuned!

Cheers,
Shubert