As Wimbledon beckons, Britain’s tennis hopefuls are moving their training up a notch.
Until now, Britain’s best young players have largely trained in classrooms with their sports psychologists. The training is intensive, involving mindfulness, mental exercises and long periods spent in isolation tanks, visualising success. They also learn yelling, tantrums and anger escalation techniques.
But now it’s time to get real. Wimbledon starts next week, so it’s time to get outside and check that all the academic exercises have properly prepared everyone to be on a real tennis court.
‘It’s fine,’ says Bjorn Conners, an expensive tennis coach. ‘I’ve trained so many young British hopefuls. I have a very well established routine. We spend ninety minutes doing breathing exercises before we go out into the daylight and onto the court. I encourage the players to relate to the grass. It’s weird stuff, and they won’t have seen it before. When everyone is ready, they will try some practice shots.
‘They train extensively on VR, and we simulate British summer weather with hosepipes and wind machines, so they will be ready. Some of them can be phased by having a human opponent, but they usually get over that quite quickly.
‘I think it will be a good year. We tell them that they will all be out of Wimbledon in the first round, so anyone who manages to get through will be thrilled to bits. And, of course, well prepared to go out in the second round. We’ve all got bets on that.’
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