Some Pros Don't care too much about Nutrition

Grigollif1

Semi-Pro
I attended last week Challenger in Calabasas CA and as a Brazilian I meet 2 countrmen players: Flavio Saretta and Andre sa It was a great week, they managed to get me a Couch pass So I could go in and out of the players lounge and get in free in the tournament. One thing that Ii was interesting to observe is how discouncerned some players are with their food intake for example, for 2 Days in a row Saretta was Drinking soda Coke including the day he was schedule to play on (I thought soda was a no no in Pro Tennis). Jeff Morrison before His Quarter final match was Snacking on Crackers With Cheddar cheese in the middle! I was amazed... Jan Michael Gambill ate a Hot Dog that they were selling for the fans in the day of his doulbes match!

After that I was surprised at how myself who plays only Junior college tennis really look after what I eat and meanwhile some of the touring Pros who make a living out of their bodies don't seem to give a damn...
 

BankOfDad

New User
Interesting observations. Like most things, there's an ideal and then there's reality. But I would bet a top-10 player wouldn't do these things to themselves.
 

Ronaldo

Bionic Poster
Wow, thought tournaments had a complimentary buffet for players. Every USTA League state, sectional, national tournament had one.
 

p3k

Semi-Pro
yes, some pros are simply human and not responsible. i had an opportunity to wittness a lifestyle of some pros at a challenger party and i was amazed to see some guys drinking and smoking (even the eventual winner of that 125.000$ event, who smacked 16-year-old gasquet 6/2, 6/1), some of them top 100 players. i felt like the older players take every event like a chance to party and grab some girls untill they can. i'm not giving names.
 

Grigollif1

Semi-Pro
Ronaldo said:
Wow, thought tournaments had a complimentary buffet for players. Every USTA League state, sectional, national tournament had one.


Yes they do in fact. What I'm referring to is Snacks , Sodas and "Hot dogs" lol.. in between Matches... Most pros When they are playing a Challenger event outside of their home town spend the whole day around the complex trainning, talking with other players watching other matches etc..
 

POGO

Hall of Fame
Grigollif1 said:
I attended last week Challenger in Calabasas CA and as a Brazilian I meet 2 countrmen players: Flavio Saretta and Andre sa It was a great week, they managed to get me a Couch pass So I could go in and out of the players lounge and get in free in the tournament. One thing that Ii was interesting to observe is how discouncerned some players are with their food intake for example, for 2 Days in a row Saretta was Drinking soda Coke including the day he was schedule to play on (I thought soda was a no no in Pro Tennis). Jeff Morrison before His Quarter final match was Snacking on Crackers With Cheddar cheese in the middle! I was amazed... Jan Michael Gambill ate a Hot Dog that they were selling for the fans in the day of his doulbes match!

After that I was surprised at how myself who plays only Junior college tennis really look after what I eat and meanwhile some of the touring Pros who make a living out of their bodies don't seem to give a damn...

That is nothing compared to what David Nalbandian was eating during one of the grandslam, which I forget. I read that he ate two large pizza the day before his competition. Nalbandian is also a big meat eater, since Argentines are known for the famous steak BBQ. He also parties in between tournaments.
 

Dildor

Rookie
I heard FedEx was snacking on a KitKat and a Coke during a Wimbledon game. I hear that quite a few pros eat alot of carbs before a game.
 

BadTemper

New User
Everyone is different. With carbs, pastas make me really sluggish, but rice and potatos dont make me feel slow and I feel energized pretty quickly. During volleyball tournaments I used to eat pop tarts and a whey protein powder mix, it made me feel great. Some of my friends have doughnuts and feel like a million bucks inbetween matches.
Genetics, you just have to test things out and see what feels best for you.
 

35ft6

Legend
These guys exercise like crazy. I'm not surprised that some of them eat like teenagers. The pizza thing surprises me, but I've heard people say David N is a bit of a pig.

Maybe the thing is that Americans are about the fattest people in the world, and yet also the most obsessed with diet. The secret is moderation but that philosophy doesn't really SELL weight loss products. But if some of my friends are a good indication, the rest of the world is less concerned with what they eat than how much (yeah, I realize the thread starter is Brazillian...).

I once had dinner with my Polish friend and his family. They were all born in Poland. They were eating greasy baked chicken swimming in fat, and it was all dark meat, and potatoes drenched in butter, and some other stuff, and they're ALL skinny. They just don't snack as much. I'm not really sure what my point is.
 

35ft6

Legend
Before early morning matches, I would have coffee, a whole wheat bagel, and orange juice. I'm not a big orange juice drinker but before matches it seemed like the right thing to drink. It would really perk me up.
 

nickybol

Semi-Pro
Coke isn`t actually bad.....

But yes, many pros do no pay enough attention to their nutrition. I think you`re doing a bad job as a coach if you aren`t telling your pupil to eat the right stuff. I imply on it with my pupils.
 

Matthew

Professional
I've seen players like Coria drinking soda on court during a match, but I think that was kind of like a pick me up... unless he had something ELSE in that Coke can. ;)
 

Jack the Hack

Hall of Fame
I remember reading a story about how in the mid-80s, Mats Wilander and his doubles partner Joakim Nystrom decided that they were going to eliminate all junk and eat nothing but health food. Apparently, they had been drinking protein shakes and eating salad for a couple weeks when they arrived at a tour stop. To their amazement, they watched Miloslav Mecir eat nothing but burgers and chocolate all week, and kick everyone's backside!!!

I also remember reading something from either Leach (former USC coach) or Gould (former Stanford coach) about how they always preached good nutrition, but they were amazed at how nasty their players sometimes ate and played so good.

On the other hand, I also recall that Lendl and Agassi used to eat a lot of fast food, but really started breaking through when they gave that up for proper nutrition and off-court training.

Basically, I think there is the ideal meal and the junk meal. The top players have finely tuned bodies and likely eat more of the ideal meals as a norm. However, since they are so fit, they can get away with the occassional junk. (Which is what you happened to see...)
 

Richie Rich

Legend
go to a super nine tournament and goto outside courts - where you are close to the playes seats. a lot of them drink a little coke along with their water on changeovers.

2 years ago in TO Masters Santoro drank nothing but Coke on changeovers. no water to be found.

When Nalbandian was recovering from various injuries a while ago he had a huge gut ( he had his shirt off while practicing and I couldn't belive a pro could have a huge belly like that - although he seems to have slimmed down now)

also, i was at an italian restaurant near a tournament about 15 years ago and the swdes came in (Wilander, Enqvist, Jarryd, and a couple of other guys I didn't recognize) and they all ordered pasta with water. No beer, wine, fatty foods, or desert. it was mid tournament so maybe that;s why they took it easy.

most pros burn off their calries they eat so they are ok. but, whoever has seen pics of Muster and Kafelnikov after they retired know that playes like to indulge to make up for what they missed out on while in training.
 

modellooks

New User
Matthew said:
I've seen players like Coria drinking soda on court during a match, but I think that was kind of like a pick me up... unless he had something ELSE in that Coke can. ;)

I've seen Spadea walk on court drinking a Sprite. I was shocked.

I feel that some people have the genetics to get away with bad nutrition.
 
L

longbow888

Guest
coke has coffein inside. isn't coffein considered as stimulant?
 

MagicMT

Rookie
have any of you ever heard of Dean Karnazes? he's an "ultra-marathon" runner, and runs some crazy distances. His site has an update that he ran 350 miles non-stop!

http://ultramarathonman.com/

he eats junk food (among other things) while he's running, including greasy fast food pizzas from round table!!! i know it doesn't say anything about the junk food on his site, but if you read his book or do some research on him, you'll see that he does.
 

VictorS.

Professional
This isn't real surprising. I've read stories about nba players like michael jordan, gary payton, kobe bryant....who also ate a lot of junk food as well.
 

35ft6

Legend
People with great genetics who exercise 3 to 4 hours a day can eat junk food. These are the guys who even in their mid 20's would be skinny eating junk food even if they didn't exercise, but add intense daily exercise, it's no wonder they're 4% body fat eating Big Macs. Eating "healthy" is probably more important for the couch potato.

Ever notice how compared to other athletes, tennis players stay in remarkably good shape after retirement? Yes, it's because tennis players unlike, say, a football player will continue to exercise by playing tennis even after he quits (barring he didn't quit because of a serious injury a la Ivan Lendl). Anyway, if I can look like Jose Higueros when I'm 55 or whatever he is, I'll be the happiest guy in the world.
 

arosen

Hall of Fame
To pop a cold beer after a three setter, man it feels awesome(BTW Marat Safin seems to completely agree :)) and I dont care if its not good for me or whatever. Junk food is fine once in a while. Same with junk drinks, I guess...
 

croatian sensation

Professional
I was sitting at the same table with Coria at lunch the day before the match...he only ate 3 pieces of grilled chicken stakes and drank water. Nothing else. Killed my appetite totally. Poor guy, it took him ages to finish eating it :)
But I suppose it's like that when you're a top 10 pro.
 

35ft6

Legend
croatian sensation said:
I was sitting at the same table with Coria at lunch the day before the match...he only ate 3 pieces of grilled chicken stakes and drank water. Nothing else. Killed my appetite totally. Poor guy, it took him ages to finish eating it :)
But I suppose it's like that when you're a top 10 pro.
Dayummm. No carbs? Coria looks like a little Bruce Lee without his shirt on. Dudes got no body fat. Actually, Bruce Lee was probably about the same size as Coria.
 

camelF4i

Rookie
arosen said:
To pop a cold beer after a three setter, man it feels awesome(BTW Marat Safin seems to completely agree :)) and I dont care if its not good for me or whatever. Junk food is fine once in a while. Same with junk drinks, I guess...

Yeh man, you'll probably get thumbs up from Safin.
 

cmb

Semi-Pro
How about smoking? many players somoke ciggarettes and some even smoke the grass. But they are still awesome players
 

Grigollif1

Semi-Pro
cmb said:
How about smoking? many players somoke ciggarettes and some even smoke the grass. But they are still awesome players


CMB you are really good at coming up with some harcore News flashes but bad at giving good facts. Which players do you know that smoke on a regular basis, specially Marijuana ?? because I strongly believe that it is impossible to be a R-E-G-U-L-A-R smoker and be in the top 400. Of course you can get your casual Smoker but, we are talking about as an addiction...
 

cmb

Semi-Pro
omg are u ********...Younes El Anouyie* ALbert Costa, Fernando Vicente, Oscar Hernandez, Santiago Ventura, Carlos Moya, Marat Safin, and lower ranked spanish dude I know who smokes so much is Marc Fornell.
The marijuana smokers are Younis, Santiago, and Fernando Vicente

ITs amazing how little the public really knows about tennis
 

Grigollif1

Semi-Pro
cmb said:
omg are u ********...Younes El Anouyie* ALbert Costa, Fernando Vicente, Oscar Hernandez, Santiago Ventura, Carlos Moya, Marat Safin, and lower ranked spanish dude I know who smokes so much is Marc Fornell.
The marijuana smokers are Younis, Santiago, and Fernando Vicente

ITs amazing how little the public really knows about tennis


No need for personal attacks. I just get a little distrub with your sencionalism from the above mentioned names, I'm sure you know it as fact that hey are all regular smokers right?? I just did a thourough research online now and could not find any link , story or report validating your opinions .

very recently I watched a TV Show about Carlos Moya where he talkes about extreme Consciousness of what he eats and a heavy emphases on condiotioning. Moya is also well known for his Well defined body and great atlheticism, doesn't sound like a regular smoker to me. From the names you mention it the only ones that I think may smoke on occasion are : Albert Costa, Fernando vicente and Marat Safin.

Unless you can shown links and reports about what you are saying to me sounds like sencionalism from your part...

peace
 

nViATi

Hall of Fame
Just because you see them eating / drinking something at one tournament doesn't mean that they it eat regularly as a part of their diet.
 

Fee

Legend
I don't think any of the players smoke pot any more becuase they test and ban for it now, don't they?

Jan-Mike has a fairly mediocre diet, but LOOK AT HIM!!! It doesn't seem to be hurting him, right? lol... Actually, earlier this year he told me he'd changed his diet a little bit to lose some weight so that he could get over his leg injuries. In general, what I've seen is that when at tournaments, players will eat and drink what is in front of them and they go through it like a herd of horses. The more conscience ones will kind of make up for it by eating healthier breakfasts and dinners away from the tournament site. Yes, they do drink soda, along with the water and Gatorade (which has almost as much sugar as soda anyway). I suspect that they all eat a heck of a lot better when they are at home and completely in control of their own diets.
 

Jack the Hack

Hall of Fame
Grigollif1 said:
I strongly believe that it is impossible to be a R-E-G-U-L-A-R smoker and be in the top 400.

I don't know about all the players that were listed previously, but I do know that Sebastian Grosjean is a regular smoker. To prove this, I did a little search on the Net, and I found the following in one of tennis writer Jon Wertheim's columns (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/jon_wertheim/03/28/mailbag.0328/2.html):

Could it be that Sebastian Grosjean is fading? If you look at his latest results it's quite worrying. What's your take? Did his coaching change hurt him? And on to another Frenchie, Paul-Henri Mathieu. Will he finally live up to his early expectations?
-- Kaja Sajovic, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Now that the statute of limitations has lapsed, I confess that a few years ago -- and I hope I'm not coming across as the Village Scold here -- I saw Grosjean blow through a pack of smokes in the lobby of a Marriott in Mason, Ohio. I'm no Gil Reyes, but that ain't exactly the training regimen of a tennis player with grand ambitions. I always enjoyed watching Grosjean play. Lots of speed, lots of funky shotmaking, an awfully tough player on every surface. Plus he was one of the few players who hit that one-legged backhand effectively and not just for show points. But, yeah, you have to think his best years are behind him...
 

35ft6

Legend
Do they test for marijuana? I thought it was only for performance enhancing drugs?

Regardless, while taking a class on the brain in college, I was amazed to see how much "better" pot is on a human body than alcohol. If I remember correctly, it was healthier by a significant margin. I don't think the occasional doob would hurt a player's abilities any more than the occasional night of beer.
 

BLiND

Hall of Fame
Don't have time to really talk in full detail, but there is nothing wrong with "junk food", it is just very high in calories... and everyone needs calories, especially athletes.

Its the same with Coke... its just a drink which happends to have a lot of energy (sugar)... you wouldn't want to drink it just to re-hydrate, but if you want to re-hydrate AND pump lots of much needed energy into your body, its very useful... which is why you'll often see players with one water bottle, and one Coke/Orange whatever bottle... it means they can control how much rehydration and energy they are replenishing. If your full of energy but dehydrated... drink water, if your hydrated but low on energy, drink coke/orange... normally a bit of both.

If your interested in knowing more... do a search for "hypotonic", "hydrotonic" & "isotonic" drinks.

Its fairly well known in the boxing/athletics world.
 

Tim Tennis

Professional
35ft6 said:
Do they test for marijuana? I thought it was only for performance enhancing drugs?

Regardless, while taking a class on the brain in college, I was amazed to see how much "better" pot is on a human body than alcohol. If I remember correctly, it was healthier by a significant margin. I don't think the occasional doob would hurt a player's abilities any more than the occasional night of beer.

What, you must go to one of those California schools. LOL I think the term should be "not as bad" instead of "better." This implies pot is good for you. It is all a matter of "how much." Now they say a "little" alcohol is good for you. I hope so.
 

35ft6

Legend
Tim Tennis said:
What, you must go to one of those California schools. LOL
NY school, and it was a science class, not a social science class.:mrgreen:

The way the government has managed to smear marijuana is really quite amazing. The war on drugs is a pretty interesting work of fiction actually.

edit: I don't smoke marijuana by the way. I wish I could. It would be much cheaper and healthier and practical than alcohol, my drug of choice.
 

nViATi

Hall of Fame
BLiND said:
Don't have time to really talk in full detail, but there is nothing wrong with "junk food", it is just very high in calories... and everyone needs calories, especially athletes.

Its the same with Coke... its just a drink which happends to have a lot of energy (sugar)... you wouldn't want to drink it just to re-hydrate, but if you want to re-hydrate AND pump lots of much needed energy into your body, its very useful... which is why you'll often see players with one water bottle, and one Coke/Orange whatever bottle... it means they can control how much rehydration and energy they are replenishing. If your full of energy but dehydrated... drink water, if your hydrated but low on energy, drink coke/orange... normally a bit of both.

If your interested in knowing more... do a search for "hypotonic", "hydrotonic" & "isotonic" drinks.

Its fairly well known in the boxing/athletics world.
I think you meant "hypotonic", "hypertonic", and "isotonic"
 

@wright

Hall of Fame
Vitas G. liked coke a lot. He even introduced Bjorn B. to coke. I always though that coke should have sponsored Vitas because he enjoyed it so much.
 

jhhachamp

Hall of Fame
35ft6 said:
Regardless, while taking a class on the brain in college, I was amazed to see how much "better" pot is on a human body than alcohol. If I remember correctly, it was healthier by a significant margin.

Is this really so? I can see how pot might be more healthy physically for the body than alcohol, but I think of pot as being much more dangerous than alcohol.
 

jhhachamp

Hall of Fame
cmb said:
omg are u ********...Younes El Anouyie* ALbert Costa, Fernando Vicente, Oscar Hernandez, Santiago Ventura, Carlos Moya, Marat Safin, and lower ranked spanish dude I know who smokes so much is Marc Fornell.
The marijuana smokers are Younis, Santiago, and Fernando Vicente

ITs amazing how little the public really knows about tennis

People are on your case because you throw around "facts" without any support or anything. What reason do you give for people to believe you. If you expect more people to buy what you are saying you are going to have to be a little more convincing than "omg are u retarted"
 

thejackal

Hall of Fame
@wright said:
Vitas G. liked coke a lot. He even introduced Bjorn B. to coke. I always though that coke should have sponsored Vitas because he enjoyed it so much.

LOL, wrong coke there mate.
 

ATXtennisaddict

Hall of Fame
Grigollif1 said:
I attended last week Challenger in Calabasas CA and as a Brazilian I meet 2 countrmen players: Flavio Saretta and Andre sa It was a great week, they managed to get me a Couch pass So I could go in and out of the players lounge and get in free in the tournament. One thing that Ii was interesting to observe is how discouncerned some players are with their food intake for example, for 2 Days in a row Saretta was Drinking soda Coke including the day he was schedule to play on (I thought soda was a no no in Pro Tennis). Jeff Morrison before His Quarter final match was Snacking on Crackers With Cheddar cheese in the middle! I was amazed... Jan Michael Gambill ate a Hot Dog that they were selling for the fans in the day of his doulbes match!

After that I was surprised at how myself who plays only Junior college tennis really look after what I eat and meanwhile some of the touring Pros who make a living out of their bodies don't seem to give a damn...

u cannot be serious. An athlete cannot consume anything but salads and lean chicken??

they're calorie burning machines and are well-oiled. sure, they shouldn't eat bad foods all the time but it shouldn't be made an absolute rule.
 

Grigollif1

Semi-Pro
ATXtennisaddict said:
u cannot be serious. An athlete cannot consume anything but salads and lean chicken??

they're calorie burning machines and are well-oiled. sure, they shouldn't eat bad foods all the time but it shouldn't be made an absolute rule.


Who said that they couldn't?? I posted that I was Surprised that on the day of a quarter final match some of them drinked Soda and ate Cheedar Crackers... I don't play tennis in such a high level but, if I know I'm playing a match or just Hitting some balls I try to eat something with more Quality and avoid Going to eat at places such as MCdonnald's. Of course nothing wrong with that once in while but not before playing a match as fuel...
 

BLiND

Hall of Fame
Ooops yes wright, Hypotonic not Hydrotonic... lol I was busy at work, and gave it about 3 braincells :)
 

35ft6

Legend
Steve Dykstra said:
Is this really so? I can see how pot might be more healthy physically for the body than alcohol, but I think of pot as being much more dangerous than alcohol.
That's exactly what the government wants you to think, but it simply isn't supported by any scientific study. It's hard to find objective information about this topic in the States. Here's some stuff:

http://www.norml.org.nz/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=122

http://www.norml.org.nz/Marijuana/Alcohol_Worse_than_Cannabis.htm

The article is citing pretty objective sources. In the USA, the government has taken a take no prisoners approach to marijuana, and on drugs in general. But most of the propaganda is based on myths and misleading statistics (e.g. the gateway drug myth).

My class on the human brain was a science class, and the professor didn't advocate a stance either way. But looking over the data, I remember being struck by how much worse alcohol was than marijuana, something I had never really considered before.

The whole war on drugs doesn't make must sense to me. But if you want a more thought-provoking theory on the war than the government's drugs are evil stance, then look up some Chomsky online. I may not always agree with him but his views are usually sensible and if nothing else, backed up by a lot of factual data.

edit: I've known a lot of pot smokers. In fact, everybody I know has tried at least once, and I bet most of our politicians probably smoked when they were younger. I've never met a violent, out of control pot smoker. Not saying they're not out there, but empirically speaking alcohol drinkers are far more anti-social.
 
Top