I know, it’s hard to swallow, the 2011 tennis season is pretty much over. Except for the 8 men who qualified for the the Barclays World Tour Finals held at the O2 arena in London, the rest of the field is on vacation until the beginning of the the 2012 tennis season.
Roger Federer kicked off the week long tennis hiatus in perfect form, capturing his first BNP Paribas Masters 1000 title in Paris. Roger played some “classic” Federer to shut down the strong Frenchman, Tsonga 6-1, 7-6. A nice way for the field to finish the 2011 regular tennis season.
So what do us normal folk do with our time while the pros are resting and recovering from a hard fought tennis season? The obvious answer would be to get out there and play more tennis! There is another option to occupy your time while give your tennis TV watching eyes a break, start looking for tennis racquets that are being discounted dramatically. Manufacturers generally do this as they are about to release new tennis equipment (confirmed Wilson and Head will be releasing new tennis racquets in early 2012) for the following tennis season. Tennis-Warehouse always has the best prices on tennis equipment, so I always check with them before I look elsewhere.
If you are in the Northern hemisphere, you will likely face colder temperatures and if your community does not have indoor tennis facilities it can be a major pain the tennis balls to play in cold weather. What do you do? Throw on your parka and hit the courts? Dust off your Wii controller and play indoor virtual tennis? Stop playing? Be a trooper and tough out the chilly temperatures and play in the cold weather? Which is the right answer? None of the above actually, though the last one I have done and regretted many times over.
Dressing warm for the cold weather tennis is key to playing during the winter lows. I usually play in the early morning or in the evening, after sun has dropped below the horizon; I typically put on my sweat repelling tennis shirt (evenings usually put on a long sleeve tennis shirt), with a zip up sweatshirt, until I’m warm enough to play without the sweatshirt. I don’t wear long pants when I play tennis, that’s just not my style. The key part of dressing for the weather is to put your sweatshirt back on after your done, this way you don’t get really cold and get hypothermia (extreme much?).
Remember, the ball and your tennis strings will perform differently in cold weather, to read up on how to handle your game, check out this article from way back when.
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Haha… I was addicted to Gramslam tennis on the Wii when I first got it two years ago before I started to play tennis with my buddy. Yeah, it’s not even close to the real thing, but at least my craving for real tennis was somewhat fulfilled. Lol
Tennis is just the best game in the world. I can not go without one week of tennis. I really love the game. In the winter i drop the tension of my strings a bit to get a bit more power. And for clothing i have thermoshirts that keep me dry and warm.
I’ll tough it out in the cold with my buddy and also play Grandslam Tennis on the Wii. :). About apparels, I wear anything as long as I get to play.
Eventually the body will warm up KS, it’s just a matter of arriving properly dressed 🙂
The game Grandslam tennis on the Wii is a decent replacement, however, it’s not even close to the same as the real thing.