It was a great decision by the tournament to move Stans match from Stadium 1 to Stadium 2 yesterday night as things was falling behind. In general i think its quite tough to have 6 matches on the stadium court and specially if the second match starts not before 1 pm. Happy about the outcome however and it was a nice intimate feeling on the court. People where coming pretty close to the players.
This is just one of many things that can happen to a tennismatch before it has even started. Tennis is a pretty complex sport with everything thats going on even before a tennismatch has started (its complex as it is ON the court) in that way that you many times don’t really know when the match is going to start. Tennis scheduling often follows a ”followed by” strategy which means that matches are scheduled to start immediately when the previous match has finished. There is not a set time. Its up to the player and the team to keep track of the scores and to be ready. Lets say you play 4th match from 11 am. You have 3 matches before you that could take either 3 hours or 7 hours. So you could basically play around 2 pm or at 6 pm with those parameters. Thats a huge change in match preparation and you have to adjust your pre nutrition as well as warm up routines according to the scores. There could also be a situation like yesterday where you perhaps mentally have adjusted to play on a specific court but for some reasons the supervisor will change the court. You have to be ready for that to. In many sports you would have a fixed time for the start of the match. A little bit easier to plan the day when you know exactly when to play and that weather (as an example) will not influence the start of the match.
Then there is a million things that can happen during a match that really does not relate to tennis but that players have to be ready for. There could be a rain delay in the middle of the match. Always bring extra clothes to change. Injury time out from your opponent. How do you handle that? Do you just sit down or do you stand up and move? Spectators getting injured or ill all of a sudden and there is a break in play that will upset the rhythm of the match. What do you do? Well, there is a various different things that can happen that specially juniors and their coaches should be a ware of and prepared for.
My advice is: Be “half ready” during the whole day of the match, meaning keep an eye of the scores, keep up with your nutrition plan and don’t go off doing crazy things. Be prepared for the unexpected and accept all changes that comes. Do not stress. Easier said than done from the outside off course.
Hope you will have a great day wherever you are!
//Magnus
While reading today’s words I came to think that, most of the times, we live under the fake notion that it is us who control reality, when in fact it is all the way around: if everything turns out as expected it is not because of our control. It was just meant to be.
So I agree that when things seem to go wrong, we are bound to embrace change by treading some new paths. It will certainly bring along some stress, but then again, what else can we do???
All the best from the Southest South, CF
Thats a very good reflection Cecilia. Accept what lies in front of you. Thanks again