Todd Woodbridge: 'Next couple of months should be challenging for Aussie players'

Due to a coronavirus, the entire tennis season has been under threat since early March, with no matches at least until the second part of July. With the current situation in Western Europe and the USA, it is hard to imagine any tournament being held by the end of the year, leaving players in "no man's land" and worried about the entire situation. For those who went home to Australia, it will be hard to find the place to train soon, with winter approaching and not many indoor facilities in one of the most significant countries of our sport. One of the greatest doubles players of all time, Todd Woodbridge, believes a couple of tough months are ahead of his compatriots, having to figure out where to practice and what kind of training to embrace. Woodbridge thinks the more experienced players will use this break nicely to recover from some injuries or gather strength again, with the upcoming players struggling the most as they can't continue their transition towards the professionals. 

"All of our players normally go to Europe and they go to the sunshine and they're playing tournaments," Woodbridge said. "This will be a time that none of us Australian players will have ever been through - and that's going to be the challenge once we get to that period of the year. What do we do for practice? Facilities by June you hope are back open but it's winter and we don't have a lot of indoor courts in Australia. All of those elements about preparation and trying to be ready to make a comeback are going to be a real challenge. But, you have to stay positive and look to get something out of it. Players need to think about how they schedule their training blocks and what they can do in them.

Also, to know what do they train for, strength or endurance. If they get back on the court, let's say in October, you have to make a plan for the next six months; this is a unique period for all of our athletes. For some of them, this will be a significant break if you're in the middle of the back half of your career. It's not a bad thing to re-energize yourself and become more motivated and give you that drive to finish your tennis journey off well. For the younger ones, though, it is challenging to know how they'll handle it. They'll be thinking about losing a year on trying to get to the tour level and how to achieve that after such a long break? There are so many questions."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2zzmgMR