Tennis ; Getting warmed up

Hey all,
I've been playing a lot of matches recently and found that it took me about 4 sets to get myself warmed up. No rallies before-hand. Just went straight in, played 4 sets.
Today, i rallied a little bit for a warm-up then played a set. My serve returns were terrible. Backhands completely off.
Now, onto my question for the thread, is there any way of getting warmed up ( or getting put into max playing potential ) any faster? Would my performance be affected if i played later in the day?
Perhaps im warming up incorrectly? To answer a couple questions that may appear, i have some Q/A below.

1. Do you rally before playing a set(s)?
Sometimes i do, sometimes i dont.

2. Do you exercise before playing a set(s)?
No.

3. Do you stretch before playing a set(s)?
Yes.

4. Do you eat before playing a set(s)? If so, what is it?
Granola bars, water, hashbrown. Later into the day and while playing, panda express or other food.

5. How much time is there between you waking up and playing?
About 1 hour.

6. Do you hit hard when warming up?
Yes. I scale it down when im missing them and later enter a more relaxed version of my hits.

7. Do you feel awake when playing?
70% awake, 20% sleepy, 10% zoned out.

8. Do you feel nervous?
Not too much.

9. Level of play?
I was playing against various doubles players. It was a highschool open tournament type of deal. Anywhere from 3.0 - 4.5.

10. Singles or doubles?
Doubles.

Usually for real matches you're supposed to rally for a few minutes, then go to volleys for a few minutes, then a few overheads, then serves.

At my last college tournament we usually practiced a total of 10 minutes before we got started in the match.

My tips for real match practice are:
Don't start with mini tennis.
Hit regular rally speed balls and work your feet to get into the groove of your strokes right off the bat. If you don't do this you will be hitting slower at the start of the match and won't reach your usual level of play until it's late in the set.

I find jump rope before warm up helps my blood pump and gets me feeling like moving.

Andyroo10567 said:

I've been playing a lot of matches recently and found that it took me about 4 sets to get myself warmed up.

Click to expand...

You need to play four sets just to warm up? :shock:

Are you serious?

Why do you think it came to the point where i had to make a thread? Is this not a place to get answers? or advice? Correct me if im wrong, but isn't this a place for discussion?
Im pretty much clueless to why this is happening

Andyroo10567 said:

Why do you think it came to the point where i had to make a thread? Is this not a place to get answers? or advice? Correct me if im wrong, but isn't this a place for discussion?
Im pretty much clueless to why this is happening

Click to expand...

What level of tennis do you play?

I mean after four sets most players would be close to exhausted and are ready for a rest and recovery.

Bless you for being able to play 4 sets and still want more. Takes me at least 4 games to get into it and feel warmed up and that's with 5-10 min of just hitting before beginning a match.

Are you playing singles or doubles? That seems bizarre that you play worse if you do pre-match hitting but it is what it is.

Ivan Lendl used to hit around 65-70% for the first four games to warm up, setting up a base of consistency. Then he'd start ripping it.

I find doing the same helps my game a heap.

I always get to the court at least 20 minutes before my partner for serving. It takes ages to get going, but I start nice and easy and work into it. I know I will serve bad if I just try to smash it in straight away.

Ahh... Editing again. Look at the last questions, i added more.

1. Do you rally before playing a set(s)?
Yes, of course.

2. Do you exercise before playing a set(s)?
Yes, I do about a 10 min walk/light run and some upper body exercised as well including some press ups and arm raises.

3. Do you stretch before playing a set(s)?
Yes. I do a plenty but especially my calves/hip-flexors/shoulder joint/forearm.

4. Do you eat before playing a set(s)? If so, what is it?
Maybe 2 hrs before - just a normal meal. From then on I just drink water - a glass every 10 mins or so.

5. How much time is there between you waking up and playing?
2 hours minimum if possible.

6. Do you hit hard when warming up?
Not initially. I try to find a pendulum-like rhythm and maintain it while focusing on footwork, preparation and watching the ball.

7. Do you feel awake when playing?
Always.

8. Do you feel nervous?
Rarely.

9. Level of play?
I don't know (I'm from elsewhere in the world) but judging by the videos of supposed 5.0 players posted here I am a 5.5 or better. :lol:

10. Singles or doubles?
Both but mainly doubles these days.

Hi
i think you need training for it.
as i see this is sound like lack of foot work and lack of concentration during volley(if you go at net in double that you must do)
lack of passion for groundstrokes,you need to control your shot more instead of hitting hard,when your opponent come at net and you are at base line in double you must hit moderate speed top spin shot that land in service box(near their feet).
tell me more about yourself,your body your style of play and how much you play in week?
but for now i think you need to do speed exercise for fast feet,like 4*9 run 5*5 run and work with rope and ...
faster footwork and more relax hiting and concentrating on placement of your shots will help you to get better result in first games and first sets.
do you play with same opponents for 4 sets?

4 sets to get warmed up? In a tournament, half of the tournament field has been eliminated after only playing 2 or 3 sets. In practice matches if you play fast sets you can get through 4 or 5 sets in the time it takes some people to play 2 or 3, but it is a rare situation that you would ever play more than two 'real' matches in a day (e.g. enter both the singles and the doubles draw).

OP, you have to be able to reach a peak performance level much earlier. That is part of being tournament tough. Warm up is just that, a warm up. Warm up is not practice. You show up ready to play on Saturday morning because of wht you did to prepare for it Monday through Friday.

Salar said:

Hi
i think you need training for it.
as i see this is sound like lack of foot work and lack of concentration during volley(if you go at net in double that you must do)
lack of passion for groundstrokes,you need to control your shot more instead of hitting hard,when your opponent come at net and you are at base line in double you must hit moderate speed top spin shot that land in service box(near their feet).
tell me more about yourself,your body your style of play and how much you play in week?
but for now i think you need to do speed exercise for fast feet,like 4*9 run 5*5 run and work with rope and ...
faster footwork and more relax hiting and concentrating on placement of your shots will help you to get better result in first games and first sets.
do you play with same opponents for 4 sets?

Click to expand...

Im about 5'9 155lb. I play anywhere from 2-4 times a week. But its mainly just heavy rallies or games such as king of the court or 21. When i do play, im there for about 2-4 hours.
For exercise, i only go to the gym. Not much cardio things going on. Just weight lifting/pulling.
I play with different people every match. Its 2 sets per doubles pair with tiebreakers if needed.

goran_ace said:

4 sets to get warmed up? In a tournament, half of the tournament field has been eliminated after only playing 2 or 3 sets. In practice matches if you play fast sets you can get through 4 or 5 sets in the time it takes some people to play 2 or 3, but it is a rare situation that you would ever play more than two 'real' matches in a day (e.g. enter both the singles and the doubles draw).

OP, you have to be able to reach a peak performance level much earlier. That is part of being tournament tough. Warm up is just that, a warm up. Warm up is not practice. You show up ready to play on Saturday morning because of wht you did to prepare for it Monday through Friday.

Click to expand...

This was on the practice day. On the tournament day , the only thing that was off were my slices and returns. I had too much of an angle in the beginning.
We lost in the first round and went into a consolation bracket and won that bracket. Ill remember that last quote you mentioned.

I must say I am completely flabbergasted, 4 sets just to warmup.

How do you even do that? Do you bring a friend with you to help you do the warmup before you do a match?

It's like a marathon runner going for 20 miles to get warmed up before he starts his 26+ mile run.

"Strings : Steel Wire ( 21G )"

What? :shock:

newpball said:

I must say I am completely flabbergasted, 4 sets just to warmup.

How do you even do that? Do you bring a friend with you to help you do the warmup before you do a match?

It's like a marathon runner going for 20 miles to get warmed up before he starts his 26+ mile run.

"Strings : Steel Wire ( 21G )"

What? :shock:

Click to expand...

Um. Its doubles.
My sig is just a joke... o.o

Andyroo10567 said:

Um. Its doubles.

Click to expand...

So your partner also plays four sets just to warmup before a match?

Andyroo10567 said:

My sig is just a joke... o.o

Click to expand...

I see.

Sorry but after the four sets warmup I am no longer surprised about anything.

newpball said:

So your partner also plays four sets just to warmup before a match?


I see.

Sorry but after the four sets warmup I am no longer surprised about anything.

Click to expand...

Yes we both do. He was already sort of warmed up earlier though.
LOL.

Andyroo10567 said:

Yes we both do. He was already sort of warmed up earlier though.
LOL.

Click to expand...

You should take this stuff more seriously. TennisWarehouse forums is no joke brosef.

Do you think its not a serious question? Im not joking. If it seems too much like a joke to you guys, ill just let this thread die out.

No, no I like them. More please.

Are you for, or against the biological passport?

For it.
on topic, i already got my answer. Just have to keep working on it. Thanks everyone.