Bayview Village Tennis Camp comments on Andy Murray’s tournament dropout and what it teaches players about fatigue.
— Toronto, Canada, June 4, 2015 – Bayview Village Tennis Camp (www.BayviewVillageTennisCamp.ca), the Greater Toronto Area’s leading provider of first-class tennis camps and clinics for players of all ages and skill levels, is weighing in on British tennis player Andy Murray having to drop out of the Italian Open due to fatigue and the importance of combating and managing exhaustion.
Top-ranked British player Andy Murray withdrew from the Italian Open due to fatigue. After having felt tired after a 40-minute practice, Murray assessed that pushing himself any harder would only cause harm to both his body and his play, choosing to take a few days of rest instead. (Source: Andy Murray pulls out of Italian Open due to ‘fatigue,’” ESPN UK, May 15, 2015; http://www.espn.co.uk/tennis/story/_/id/12884021/andy-murray-pulls-italian-open-rome-due-fatigue.)
“Managing fatigue is essential, even at the professional level. There’s a lot more to it than just feeling exhausted and needing to sit down or take a nap,” says Peter Nielsen, director of Bayview Village Tennis Camp. “It has multiple dimensions that need to be looked at and handled or else there is a risk of getting seriously injured and/or forced to drop out of a tournament.”
Nielsen explains that a distinct consideration over both the short and long term is pacing. Murray engaged in 10 intense games in two weeks, which, while showing respect to the tournament schedule, clearly wasn’t the best for his body.
“Muscle fibre tears every time someone exerts themselves and it can’t heal if additional strain is added,” he adds. “The best approach is to make sure players take breaks regularly, with the level of rest being proportional to the intensity of the game. Strain and fatigue can last well over a day if it compounds the way it did for Murray.”
According to Nielsen, physical fatigue can be combated by regular breaks and eating. Lunch should not be skipped, as even something as simple as a peanut butter sandwich can do wonders for restoring fatigue. That said, it’s important not to exert too much following a meal to avoid cramps.
“The summer heat will also amplify any exhaustion one feels from a tennis match; not all sweat is from the game,” he observes. “It’s also important to both keep hydrated and take regular breaks in the shade. Because while sunburns aren’t exactly part of fatigue, they’re hardly helpful, either.”
“This is all especially important when children are the ones playing tennis. Kids don’t know all the ways to listen to what their bodies are telling them, so once they start having fun, they can sometimes keep playing until they get heat stroke,” Nielsen concludes. “Parents and supervisors need to make sure children take regular breaks, even if the child insists otherwise.”
Bayview Village Tennis Camp is the top tennis camp in the GTA. Its Tennis Canada-certified instructors work to teach kids not only how to have fun with tennis, but also how to play smart and safe. More information about the junior and advanced summer tennis programs can be found at www.BayviewVillageTennisCamp.ca.