Scheduling is part of being a tennis player. It is as important as training, recovery and competition. I would even venture to say it’s more important.
The moment I knew Carlos Alcaraz would have a long and sustainable career was when he lost to Tommy Paul last year in Toronto. This might sound counterintuitive at first glance but hear me out. I was calling all of Carlos’ dodgy matches in Toronto for Tennis Channel and after his first match – I think I even said it on air – it became very obvious to me that he hadn’t hit enough tennis balls. When the player’s entire racquet head seems to be a giant sweet spot, when it seems like they can’t miss, when their technique is as clean as the streets are in Tokyo, it most often is because they have hit thousands of forehands and backhands in training and finally have the serenity of mind to produce the equivalent in competition. Compared to amateurs most professional tennis players have that; obviously, as their jobs are literally to hit as many tennis balls as they possibly can. So, when they don’t the difference is glaring. In Toronto, Carlos was framing forehands, hesitant on the mid court balls and approach shots, always half a step too far away, rushing the net as if to avoid rallying from the baseline. He hadn’t practiced. The reason why I knew he will have a long and sustainable career (despite the few injuries he has already suffered) is because in that moment I could see his scheduling in front of my eyes like in those movies when scientists start to figure stuff out and imaginary numbers appear in front of them. A Beautiful Mind with Russell Crowe, is it?
He had just won Wimbledon, he had promised to play Hopman Cup in Nice a week later which he wasn’t going to skip so he needed to rest. Something had to give. What gave was he came to Toronto physically ready, he even looked more buff than usual, but without having hit enough tennis balls. He had already struggled against Hubert Hurkacz and he eventually lost to Tommy Paul in the quarters. Funnily enough, it was the breakout tournament for Jannik Sinner who won his first Masters 1000 title in Toronto and quickly thereafter became one of Carlos’ fiercest rivals for the big titles. Carlos or somebody in his team had had the clarity of mind to sacrifice a Masters 1000 tournament on the altar of recovery. He had made a rational choice.
A wise coach once told me the rule of thumb for scheduling should be: Never more than three tournaments in the row. If you’re playing well, go back and rest. You are winning a lot of matches, playing a lot of tennis and after three weeks it’s time to rest. Recuperate the body, work on some technical details that become blurry in long periods of competing. If you’re playing badly, go back and train. If you’re not winning matches for three weeks it’s time to find out why and you’re not going to do that on the match court where all that matters is winning – as ugly as possible if necessary.
Now, the problem with rules of thumb are they are mostly based on the theory that human beings are rational creatures. We are not. Adam Smith came up with an entire economical model assuming human beings are rational, then capitalism was born and soon the world will perish because of it. I guess that’s a rather simplified version of historical events but to be fair, I’m a tennis player not a historian and it serves the bottom line which is: People don’t make rational choices. On one hand, tennis players get carried away by wins and play too much. On the other, they get carried away by the fantasy that anything can change at any moment if they just continue to do exactly the same things they have been doing already that weren’t successful in the first place. It’s waiting for Godot. But Godot never comes. Throw Godot in the harbour!
Good coaching is partly good scheduling. If the player is not rational it helps if somebody else on the team is. Good coaches coach well. Great coaches schedule well. It’s a process. The younger you are the more you can and want to play. But it’s important to make smart choices at a young age already so you prolong your career at the back end of things. It’s critical to mention, however, that not all players have the luxury of making schedules to their liking. They are lacking money or lacking points. If they can only gain 30 points here they might make the main draw of the Australian Open still and that’s a difference of 60K and if they don’t have the 60K they won’t be able to pay their coach and if they can’t pay their coach they don’t have a rational mind on their team who tells them to rest. It’s a vicious circle for some and as so often an analogy to society in general. The world’s perpetual paradox: He that has plenty of goods shall have more. In tennis terms you might want to coin it differently. He that has plenty of ranking points shall play less and rest more and henceforth will forever have more ranking points.
Way to bring the mood down, Andrea. There is a way out though and that’s the good news. The bad news is: We would have to act rational. How boring.
Things that make me happy:
I am back in Paris where I will be covering the Olympic Games’ tennis tournament for a German TV station (why, yes of course, I’m wearing a beret). I had to get my nails done to look presentable on TV. In the nail salon the playlist that was playing was the kind where it’s all covers of the greatest pop hits. I celebrate small business owners who are savvy enough to save money where they can. No license needed for terrible guitar covers and I never before knew the lyrics to Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You. Come to think of it: I wish I could go back to not knowing. At least the nails are cute:
Things that make me unhappy:
People who just stare into a void when they are waiting. They make me really uncomfortable. I took the train to Paris and there were multiple people in my wagon who just sat there and looked out the window. They are either sociopaths or very comfortable with their own thoughts and what might come up from deep down. Either way: I don’t like it. How dare they be at peace with themselves? Go check Instagram for the hundredth time per minute like a normal person.
I hope this finds you in the midst of summer heat hoping for rain in the late afternoon. Don’t forget to wear sunscreen!
Yours truly, Andrea
Always good to read the thoughts of someone who actually thinks and can enunciate their thoughts into words and sentences that make one think.
When Camus first visited New York, he noticed how Americans were always smiling, something he probably wasn't used to in Paris. You have a kindred spirit in him. Nails look good!