Ask me anything about being a professional tennis player

[CCNM]

Your coach, a man, is named Jocelyn???? Interesting. When does the "regular season" end for you? I know tennis players don't have much of an off-season but I would think that lower-ranked and junior players would have a longer one than the top ranked players.

[dominikk1985]

Do you still play doubles or concentrate on singles?

[BeHappy]

I'll be supporting you whenever I see you. Good luck with the pro game and I hope you make the transition.

[fpeliwo]

Originally Posted by CCNM

Your coach, a man, is named Jocelyn???? Interesting. When does the "regular season" end for you? I know tennis players don't have much of an off-season but I would think that lower-ranked and juior players would have a longer one than the top ranked players.

Yeah, Jocelyn is a guys' name in French.

I'm done tournaments for the year after next week.

[fpeliwo]

Originally Posted by dominikk1985

Do you still play doubles or concentrate on singles?

I still play doubles.

[dlam]

Filip
How do you keep mentally tough in the match if you are way ahead or way behind
Let's say up 5-1 or down 1-5 in a set?

[dominikk1985]

Originally Posted by fpeliwo

I still play doubles.

I think that is a good thing for the developement of a player. you learn a lot in dubs you can use in singles.

[stringertom]

Good luck in your final tourney of '12 on the Mexican swing of Futures! I see you draw a Dutch 21-year-old (Griekspoor) who has played a ton of Futures events this year, including a nice recent run to SF/QFs in back-to-back events in Israel. He lost R1 last week in a third-set TB. Did you get a glimpse of his game or do you leave the scouting to your coach(es)?

I was scanning the draw for a Futures tourney being held over at NBTA, Bradenton this week. It's on clay (Har-Tru if I'm correct) so it's a great early chance to ready for the January Florida swing. Did your group consider it as an option when planning your schedule?

[nethawkwenatchee]

Originally Posted by Zarfot Z

Is Nadal genuinely injured, or on a silent ban?

You're in the ATP rankings so please shed some inside info.

Thanks.

Not sure if you came across this thread by accident or are just unfamiliar with it's content. In either case, this question doesn't belong here.

This is a thread where ATP related Q & A's are taken, not lambasting or hypothetical hearsay about un-answerable content.

If you wish to have one of those conversations you may find a thread in the "odds and ends" section of the forum ("who shot JFK" ETC.)

Take Care,

[jaggy]

Originally Posted by nethawkwenatchee

Not sure if you came across this thread by accident or are just unfamiliar with it's content. In either case, this question doesn't belong here.

This is a thread where ATP related Q & A's are taken, not lambasting or hypothetical hearsay about un-answerable content.

If you wish to have one of those conversations you may find a thread in the "odds and ends" section of the forum ("who shot JFK" ETC.)

Take Care,

The Beatles did

[stringertom]

^^^No small wonder they took over the world shortly after!

Back on topic...I know GPPD is not the right forum for a spoiler but Filip won his first round in 2 TB's and now faces the #3 seed from El Salvador (saw the score on a website I'm not allowed to reference).

Do we need a separate thread in PMR? I'll start one if all are interested!

[fpeliwo]

Originally Posted by stringertom

Good luck in your final tourney of '12 on the Mexican swing of Futures! I see you draw a Dutch 21-year-old (Griekspoor) who has played a ton of Futures events this year, including a nice recent run to SF/QFs in back-to-back events in Israel. He lost R1 last week in a third-set TB. Did you get a glimpse of his game or do you leave the scouting to your coach(es)?

I was scanning the draw for a Futures tourney being held over at NBTA, Bradenton this week. It's on clay (Har-Tru if I'm correct) so it's a great early chance to ready for the January Florida swing. Did your group consider it as an option when planning your schedule?

Sorry it took so long to reply, I've been at the club all day throughout this week. He was tough, but I managed to hold my own.

As far as the future in Bradenton, I will not be playing as this week is the last tournament I am playing this year.

[Tennis_Hands]

Originally Posted by fpeliwo

Sorry it took so long to reply, I've been at the club all day throughout this week. He was tough, but I managed to hold my own.

As far as the future in Bradenton, I will not be playing as this week is the last tournament I am playing this year.

Hi Filip,

first, thank you, that you devote some of your time to answer our questions.

I have a couple questions, regarding your offseason.

1. Do you do any training, that is specific (i.e. happens only during) to the offseason?

2. Do you do extended fitness sessions during the off season, and if so, what kind of exercises do you do and how many times a day? I am particularly interested, if you do any exercises, that are specifically aimed at strengthening particular muscles, in order to endure the hard season, and maybe some exercises, done as an injury prevention. Do you and your coach take note of what are the prevalent injuries amongst the top pros and try to take countermeasures, or you rely on your general fitness to take care of that?

3. Do you do any other sports in order to raise your fitness level and if "Yes" what exactly do you do (how many times a week, intensity etc)?

Last, but not least, I wish you to be healthy and have a nice time in your off season.

[joeri888]

Strange question maybe, but do you consider your own game 'interesting'? If you try to look as an objective viewer, do you have a lot of variety? Do you use many different spins and speeds and stuff like that? Do you come in to the net, or stand way back, or take the ball real early? Do you S&V ever?

Relating to this issue: Do you see a lot of talented players coming to the net A LOT? Do you see any of them with a 1hbh doing well?

[stringertom]

Originally Posted by fpeliwo

Sorry it took so long to reply, I've been at the club all day throughout this week. He was tough, but I managed to hold my own.

As far as the future in Bradenton, I will not be playing as this week is the last tournament I am playing this year.

No apology required...carry on with your game before worrying about us!

Just to let you know...this thread is in the section where "spoilers" are not allowed so I started a thread in the "Pro Match Results" to report your scores. It will be a little more compact than this thread so you'll get in and out a bit easier too!

[beast of mallorca]

Originally Posted by fpeliwo

Sorry it took so long to reply, I've been at the club all day throughout this week. He was tough, but I managed to hold my own.

As far as the future in Bradenton, I will not be playing as this week is the last tournament I am playing this year.

Good on you Filip. You need as much R&R as you can, then you can start
working your way up the ladder in ATP by early next year. Hope you have a break out year this 2013 and possibly break into top 100. God bless you mate

[fpeliwo]

Originally Posted by Tennis_Hands

Hi Filip,

first, thank you, that you devote some of your time to answer our questions.

I have a couple questions, regarding your offseason.

1. Do you do any training, that is specific (i.e. happens only during) to the offseason?

2. Do you do extended fitness sessions during the off season, and if so, what kind of exercises do you do and how many times a day? I am particularly interested, if you do any exercises, that are specifically aimed at strengthening particular muscles, in order to endure the hard season, and maybe some exercises, done as an injury prevention. Do you and your coach take note of what are the prevalent injuries amongst the top pros and try to take countermeasures, or you rely on your general fitness to take care of that?

3. Do you do any other sports in order to raise your fitness level and if "Yes" what exactly do you do (how many times a week, intensity etc)?

Last, but not least, I wish you to be healthy and have a nice time in your off season.

Well we generally do a lot more heavy weights during that period to bulk up and prepare for the next year, as well as a couple of things such as road biking for 80k or running an official 15k race (we did that during last year's offseason)

We generally start by doing mostly fitness and not a lot of tennis, and it really includes everything(weights, cardio, speed/agility, core strength/stability, and injury prevention exercises. It varies depending on what each player needs individually, and on what part of the training period we are in, but generally we will have at least one or two 1.5-2.5 hour sessions (more if its an 80k road bike)

As far as other sports, we usually play soccer, maybe once every week or two. Its very intense, as we are all extremely serious about winning these games

[fpeliwo]

Originally Posted by joeri888

Strange question maybe, but do you consider your own game 'interesting'? If you try to look as an objective viewer, do you have a lot of variety? Do you use many different spins and speeds and stuff like that? Do you come in to the net, or stand way back, or take the ball real early? Do you S&V ever?

Relating to this issue: Do you see a lot of talented players coming to the net A LOT? Do you see any of them with a 1hbh doing well?

I think my game would be quite interesting to watch. I take the ball really early, but I can mix it up and stay a bit further back and hit a heavy spin, to keep the guy off rhythm. I do try to get into the net when I have a short ball, but I don't serve and volley much, unless the guy is popping up high balls of his return. Its more of a surprise tactic that Ill use a few times in a match. As far as speed goes, I do try to mix it up a lot, since its easy to get a rhythm if someone gives you the same ball every time.

[fpeliwo]

Originally Posted by beast of mallorca

[/b]

Good on you Filip. You need as much R&R as you can, then you can start
working your way up the ladder in ATP by early next year. Hope you have a break out year this 2013 and possibly break into top 100. God bless you mate

Thanks, I really appreciate it!

[Goosehead]

hello filip..that injury prevention stuff you tennis players do nowadays is a fairly new thing i think..do you have to do sort do stress test exercises to find out any weaknesses or an imbalance in the body..

tennis matches are tougher now..but most of the players manage to avoid serious injurys nowadays so it must be a good idea.