The Art of Conditioning for Young Tennis Players with Lapo Becherini

For kids today, when is the best time to begin tennis training? Do they have to start early (at ages 4-6), or is it better to engage in other sports early and start tennis a little bit later (at ages 8-10)?

The sooner the better for starting tennis and other different activities. I think it’s good to start to develop multi-coordinated skills at a young age, keeping an eye open for the sport that the kid like the most. Time for specialization should be around 12, not later as players that are doing amazing with great ranking are getting younger and younger, year by year. This trend can also be attributed to many professionals as Performance Coaches, Physios, Nutritionists who are involved in the development of the player. Just consider that from this year the threshold at Next Gen will be 20 and not 21. In fact, over the last few years, Holger Rune, Lorenzo Musetti, and Carlos Alcaraz did not play, even though they could have.

What is the main difference in youth tennis player development today compared to when you were a kid?

Just up until 10 years ago, when a kid was practicing tennis, the main focus was on the court, hitting the ball, and spending hours only with the tennis coach. Nowadays, the time that the same kid is spending on the court playing tennis is half of the total time he is training: fitness, physiotherapy, mental coaching, and what is called invisible training (which encompasses nutritional habits, hours and quality of sleep, hydration, and hygiene habits) have taken a big part of the time on a daily basis.

What role does strength and conditioning play in the development of young tennis players today?

Having had the opportunity to work as a Performance Coach with young players who have become professionals, from my experience, I can say that all the work and time they invested in the gym and on the court, transferring the work done in the gym, are crucial for their good development. We have a clear example of the impact that a proper fitness program can have on players: Alcaraz, Rune, Shelton, and Sinner are great athletes first, then top tennis players. By “proper” program, I mean a personalized development plan that reflects the player’s game and structure, allowing them to perform their best tennis. The ability to adapt to any player is essential, regardless the age. Excellent perception of one’s body and understanding the basic pattern movements in the gym are priorities for any real long-term development.From this basis, an individualized program can be set up.

How do you adapt agility training to the stage of sports development of young athletes? 

“The best movers are the best players. It’s been like this for the last 10, 20 years already now, and it’s going to stay like this”.

That’s what Roger Federer replied years ago to a question about the young generation of players. Agility, especially at a young age, should be worked on often, both on and off the court. The ability to decelerate, accelerate, and change direction without losing time in transition is crucial in a sport where the average moving distance of each shot is 3 meters, and the moving distance for each point is between 8 and 15 meters. That’s why I often encourage players and fitness coaches to spend more time on court developing agility and other conditional motor capabilities.

What indicators or signs do you look for to identify when a young player may be at risk of overtraining or burnout, and how do you adjust their training regimen accordingly?

 I always say that a coach who arrives at a session with a nice and well-prepared program, and rigidly sticks to that program without flexibility, is not a good coach. Coaching, to me, is about having a plan but being ready to change it every 10 minutes and to adjust based on the feedback and messages that the player gives us. Messages often aren’t verbal, and that’s the difference between a trainer and a coach, the one who should understand and know well who he has in front. I see the art of coaching as choosing a dress for an important ceremony: you have a picture in your mind about how you would like it to look, but then you will try it 3-4 times and always make some changes. Changing the program and correcting it, doesn’t mean working less. It can be the opposite too. We can’t really know the impact that the training session or the match from the day before will have on the player. That is because it depends on many aspects as quality of the sleep, food, hydration, stress level and many other. We can suppose or try to guess, but when you try to connect with the player, you’ll notice that he’s not feeling how you thought he would feel. With Pro players, thanks to data science, it’s easier, using GPS and blood test and other different measurements, to monitor the training volume in order to avoid overtraining and to measure stress level trough the weeks. With Junior players it’s also possible, without using any equipment but monitoring the amount of hours, the perception of the player’s effort, using for example the Borg Scale, along with feedback by the coach about the intensity required and expressed. All this will give us a clear picture of the situation and will also allow us to collect historical data, essential for a long-term development.

What are the common challenges young tennis players face when transitioning to the professional circuit? How do you help them prepare for it and make their adaptation easier?

 When you have the opportunity to be involved in a long term development project in tennis, you need to keep an eye on both, short and long term run. Short because of expectations from parents, pressure from sponsors and managers are often there, and they are also part of the journey. Not all the parents and sponsors can be patient and understand the process.

Long because, as a fitness coach, you should know what is and what is not important for young athletes when they are 10, 12 or 14 , in order to be in the position to perform their best tennis when will it truly matter, thanks also to their body. We shouldn’t be looking forward to being ranked #1 during the under-12 stage or similar. I agree with the idea that playing under stress and experiencing the junior tour like a professional (competing in junior slams and major tournaments) will help the player in the future because they will be more prepared and many situations won’t be entirely new to them. However, the price to pay for this is often too high. Wrong scheduling of tournaments, not enough trust in the training process, and lack of continuity in doing the right things. In order to have a better growth process, it will be important not to compare the results of the junior tour with those of the professional tour. Also, it will be important to understand that what brought you to a certain level in the junior rankings may not be what brings you to that level in the pro tour. The pro tour, starting from the ITF level, is very demanding: traveling every second week, covering expenses, and competing against more experienced players. All of this will be amplified by the need and necessity to achieve positive results and start climbing the rankings.