Grand Slam-winning wheelchair tennis player and Season Ticket Holder Andy Lapthorne returns with his regular column...
On Saturday, we as a whole need to pick ourselves up dust ourselves down and go again in another London derby against Crystal Palace.
Last weekend’s result against Spurs hurt everyone and I’m sure the players will be looking to put in a top performance as we look to build some momentum in our season.
One of the biggest things that’s helped me across my career is my preparation. As they say ‘fail to prepare, prepare to fail’. With tennis being an individual sport and with so many events across the year, preparing for the big events like Grand Slams is key to having success at those tournaments.
My preparation usually starts six to eight weeks out from each Grand Slam, where I’ll aim to be at my best for that particular week. This includes physio/massage daily after training to ensure I stay away from injuries. Within the six weeks I’ll work with my team which is my coach, strength and conditioning coach and numerous LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) staff members including a nutritionist, physiotherapist and match analyst.
I’ll do lots of tactical sessions with coach after looking at footage of the top players who I expect to be playing at these big events, making sure we are learning from any mistakes in past matches.
Gameplans are huge in tennis and getting this right can be the key to winning and losing. One of the biggest things that has helped give me success is something I took from boxing where they will get similar sparring partners in to mimic what a potential opponent will do. I do this by bringing in different players to train with who have game styles similar to the ones we’ve been earlier watching in the match analysis. This allows me to hopefully prepare for situations I’m going to face under extreme pressure.
The biggest thing I would say that helps me prepare is having the correct team around me and building a successful routine over many years. We have taken the good and bad from different situations and hopefully created an environment which prepares me for success on the tennis court.
One of the main things that I have learnt in my career is how to prepare in the hours just before a huge match, which these days for Wheelchair tennis players are usually played on huge courts in front of big crowds on live TV.
Preparing the mind for big moments and being ready to attack when your mind is telling you to defend is the key to success in sport.
Our players would’ve no doubt been doing similar this week, watching back the Spurs game and trying to learn from mistakes to improve this weekend hopefully bring us a successful result. We desperately need three points and I’m sure everyone is going to join me as usual in getting behind the team.
Tough times don’t last, but tough people do. I still believe we have a team with toughness that will find a way to success this season.
Come on you Irons.
Lappo
*The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of West Ham United.
