Competitive league players in their 30s-40s how often do you play?

FIRETennis

Professional
Question directed toward players in their 30s and 40s who play a lot of amateur 4.5+/5.0/Open level tournaments and matches...
A few guys I know in their late 30s that are playing ITF tournaments are hitting 1-2 hours 5-6 days a week, out of which a couple days are practice matches.
They are also going to the gym a couple hours a week.
How does your weekly hitting practice, fitness/cardio and match frequency look like?
 

OnTheLine

Hall of Fame
Huh ... I am a nothing 3.5 league player in my 50s ... definitely no ITF tourneys in my future, and I am playing 2 hours 5-6 days a week.... but no gym, thank you very much.
 

FIRETennis

Professional
They all have families but are passionate about the sport.
There are also plenty of triathletes with jobs and families training 15h+ a week...
 

CHtennis

Rookie
2 hours a week (indoors right now, have just been playing the 5.0 matches), 4-6 hours of platform or pickleball as well a week. 2 hours gym. 2 kids.

I have been playing a lot of platform lately because my tennis buddies have been wanting to do that, but in general for most weeks I dont have a tournament I play about 4-6 hours of tennis and that maintains my level pretty well.
 

MRfStop

Hall of Fame
I’m 4.0. I’ve been going to the gym twice a week. Hit 3 times a week at the most. Mostly drills and rally sessions.
 

leech

Semi-Pro
4.0M in late 40's here. I play four to five times a week....rarely drill and never do weights/cardio. No surprise that my game has stagnated and my fitness has declined, but I like to play matches and don't enjoy the other things that can improve my results.

To be fair, I've averaged 150 USTA league matches per year (not including tournaments and WTT matches) in the past four years, so that doesn't leave much time for me to do much else!
 
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MikeG

New User
5.0M in my early 40's. I play about 3 times a week and work out at the gym around 3 times a week. My workouts are not very strenuous though, mostly trying to maintain some sort of tone mixed with dadbod. I am married with a 5 year old.
 

time_fly

Hall of Fame
48 years old, 1 kid in high school. I generally practice tennis twice per week and play 1 or 2 league matches on the weekend. I work out with a personal trainer 2 hours per week, and try to get 2 gym days on my own (mostly cardio and stretching). I will sometimes do the gym work on the same day as tennis, especially if it's doubles. I try to get 1 off day per week to rest. I've learned from personal experience that if I add more tennis and do less gym, the injuries start coming regularly. :-(
 

Brandwun

New User
37yo, first year I’ve taken tennis seriously. I have a league night, then I try to practice one or two more times a week (clinic or free hitting with a partner). Haven’t been to the gym in a while, I really have to try and find time for it. Hoping to play more when it’s warmer and tennis is a lot cheaper.
Married, 2 kids under 4.
 

Booger

Hall of Fame
No kids. Typically play 3-4x/week and squeeze in weights wherever I can. Sometimes it's a grind to get the hours in, but still enjoyable. I'm practicing at 8:00PM tonight, which means I won't get to sleep until after 11:30PM, but that's the best I could do on a Monday. REALLY critical to find good, dependable partners.

Worth noting that there is a difference between bashing a few groundies and actually training to improve. I know some guys who were great college players but are slowly sliding back over time. Also know a guy who spent 2-3 years at the bottom of our league and this year made it to the finals of the playoffs.
 

Nacho

Hall of Fame
Question directed toward players in their 30s and 40s who play a lot of amateur 4.5+/5.0/Open level tournaments and matches...
A few guys I know in their late 30s that are playing ITF tournaments are hitting 1-2 hours 5-6 days a week, out of which a couple days are practice matches.
They are also going to the gym a couple hours a week.
How does your weekly hitting practice, fitness/cardio and match frequency look like?

I am playing tennis 2-3 times a week. 2-3 times is a mix of a USTA match, some drilling at the club, or hitting with someone. I think I would do better playing more but its all I have time for. I play on a 5.0 and 4.5 40+ team locally, plus some other local teams, and usually play one competitive team match a weekend. Occasionally I will get in another hit or playing session when I can and there are open courts, such as during the summer.

I workout 4-5 times a week, 2-3 of those with a trainer. Fortunately I have access to this. This consists of individual and group fitness, as well as some workouts on my own.

I also practice MMA, so do some alternative exercising on top of this....And gives me something else to work at. Helps with the pounding on my feet.

As far as the guys I play against and lose too, all are former college or semi-pro players, and almost all work at clubs and teach, or hit with high level jr's all the time. They play almost every day, hit with tons of Jr players, and stay in relatively good shape. The ones not teaching pros typically play 3-4 times a week, and are on the local USTA teams in their areas, and may do some sort of exercise program similar to what I do.
 

Cashman

Hall of Fame
I play 1-2 times with about 3 gym sessions each week.

I'm able to get away with doing less than most, because my natural game is S&V - tactical awareness can do a lot to make up for rusty strokes. But in general I invest less time than the guys I play against, and it shows in my results. I don't like it, but I just can't justify investing any more time at this point in my life.
 

dsp9753

Semi-Pro
I am in my low 30s and I play 80% of my matches (100 matches a year) in USTA leagues and tournaments. Roughly 2-3 matches a week. I also have a couple of block times.

I dont really do any other training outside of matches. I have been starting to go to the gym at least once a week for the past couple of months to get some extra cardio and weight training in.

Playing all these matches is making me a better player and I am seeing gains in my performance. I am sure I could optimize even more if I spent more time training off the court and cutting weight. But I am winning and improving so no motivation.
 
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