What time is too early for a match?

[SaaKha]

What’s up everyone. So I have a bit of a dilemma. I’m playing in a tournament this weekend. My first match was supposed to be on Friday at 5:00pm. An adequate time for a match for me. But now they tell me it had to be moved to 8am Saturday, and that it’s the only time we can have the match. I helped set up this tournament too so I find that hard to believe but here I am :/. For normal hitting and practicing, 8am is fine. But for a match, imo, is a no go. Just wondering what time do you think is too early for a tournament match?

 

[Cashman]

When you play weekend tournaments, you kind of just have to deal with inconvenient match times - it's not logistically possible to get through a decent sized draw without them.

Personally I would have no problem playing an 8AM match in summer, when the sun has been up since 6AM. Heck, round here that's a much better deal than 2PM when it's 35 or more in the shade.

 

[Matthew ATX]

If I sign up for a tournament, and I sign up for a lot of them, I am prepared to play at 8am. Typically, that time slot is for singles play, so I don't often have to play then, but at doubles only tournaments, I sometimes do.
In the Texas summer, 8am is a pretty nice time to play.

 

[OnTheLine]

I too find 8am reasonable .... I find 7:30am tolerable .... 7am bearable ... I say no to anything prior to that.

What I dislike is having to play a match, especially a first round match, in the evening on a weeknight ... because I will be coming off of work and have a difficult time turning off work-brain and switching on tennis-brain.

And in the summer, I agree with @Cashman highly preferable to an afternoon match ... in my area you are looking at 105-115F most afternoons through the summer

 

[Max G.]

Heh, I'd never want to play an 8am match. 10 is about the earliest I'd enjoy playing on a weekend.

 

[2ndServe]

What’s up everyone. So I have a bit of a dilemma. I’m playing in a tournament this weekend. My first match was supposed to be on Friday at 5:00pm. An adequate time for a match for me. But now they tell me it had to be moved to 8am Saturday, and that it’s the only time we can have the match. I helped set up this tournament too so I find that hard to believe but here I am :/. For normal hitting and practicing, 8am is fine. But for a match, imo, is a no go. Just wondering what time do you think is too early for a tournament match?

You can forfeit. Your opponent has the same start time so it's not like you're at a disadvantage. No joke at Nationals last year due to rain we had to drive out of town to get indoor courts started our last match around Sunday 1am finished around 230am because they had to add up sets/lines and start time was 6am or 7am for the semis. The timing is blurry but I remember getting about 1.5 hours of sleep since it's hard for me to go to sleep right away. It could be a worse time.

 

[5sets]

That’s the best time to play tennis in the summertime, not sure what the issue is.

You want to play at Noon when the sun is a blazing 90 degrees Fahrenheit? Last week in this area the heat index was 115 degrees F.


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[tennis tom]

That’s the best time to play tennis in the summertime, not sure what the issue is.

Not enough time to do the routine match warm-up : 2nd. cup of coffee, apple-fritter, post @ TWTT, starting a couple of threads and replying to about six, go #1, twenty minute headstand, take pills, go #2, go through 200 tennis T-shirts deciding which to wear, go through 500 hats deciding which to wear, pack-up cooler bag with bevs, snacks, ice, picking out which car/truck to drive to the practice court, filling up with gas, jog a couple of laps around track to break a sweat, find a practice court to hit hopper of balls, drive to match site, kibbitz with friends, get scouting report on opponent, last chance latrine stop, apply sun-block, lotion loins--11:30 to 2:30 is a civilized match start time IMHO--tennis is all about having a regular routine to get into your rhythm.

 

[stapletonj]

tennis tom, my brother, you forgot about the time spent selecting the playlist for your headphones for the drive to the courts and pre-match warmup.

 

[WhiteOut]

tennis is all about having a regular routine to get into your rhythm.

i agree...i tend to be a night guy, so playing a few nights a week after work is very normal for me. the AM thing is do-able, but i find I have to wake up a good 1.5 hrs or so before i should be on court. i find generally that sunday afternoons about the last thing i want to do is play tennis...it's all about the cycles. i used to foce myself to get up early on saturday to play a bunch of frinedly sets with a gang a of guys i know, but frankly, if i'm gettign up that early, i'd rather play golf. a good weekend start time for me is ~10AM...late enough to enjoy the AM, early enough it doesnt suck the whole day away...

all that being said, tourneys are a totally different beast. once ive signed up for one, the adrenaline tends to carry me thru the whole process...knowing you pretty much have to be ready for anything...so in those cases, the early start times dont bother me at all. in fact, beig a 3.5, it's fun to get my match out of the way early, then chill and watch the more advanced players for a while...gets me pumped up for my next match.

 

[ChaelAZ]

AZ summertime we are on court playing at the butt-crack of dawn, so I am playing matches at 6a or so all the time. During winter we usually don't get on court until 7a or 8a.

 

[Mongolmike]

Would you eat bacon at that time? If you are ok with eating bacon at 8am, then that means you are ok with having a beer with your bacon. And if you can drink beer at 8am, you should be good for tennis. Don't be such a snowflake.

 

[J_R_B]

I don't know if this is just a local rule or not, but for league matches, any time before 8:30 has to agreed to by both teams. Tournaments are different, though.

 

[ChaelAZ]

Would you eat bacon at that time? If you are ok with eating bacon at 8am, then that means you are ok with having a beer with your bacon. And if you can drink beer at 8am, you should be good for tennis. Don't be such a snowflake.

I just wanna know the place I get beer and bacon with my 6am match.

 

[Mongolmike]

My kitchen. Call ahead for hours of operation and reservations.

 

[Dartagnan64]

It's summer and someone doesn't want to play at 8 am? It's the most glorious time of the day in summer. I'm usually up at 6 am on Saturdays to enjoy the best part of the day.

There are very few things in life that are better done between 10pm and Midnight than are done between 6 am and 8 am. Clubbing and watching fireworks are about it.

My Saturday routine is awake at 6 am, head to the club, play an hour with my wife. Boys arrive at 7:30 and we play a couple hours of dubs. Then share breakfast by the pool and quick hot tub. It's 11 am, I still have the whole day ahead after that.

Personally don't think I've ever won a Friday 5 pm match. Too much work fatigue. I prefer to relax Friday night so I'm ready for an action packed weekend. Cocoon with the wife, order in, watch some netflix or movies, go to bed early. Last thing I can get into is a tournament match.

 

[tennis tom]

I just wanna know the place I get beer and bacon with my 6am match.

Denny's?

 

[Ronaldo]

Played a 7:15 am match and a 2:30 am match indoors. Don't like it, don't play. Sad to say, there are few tourneys now.

 

[5sets]

If you plan on winning I would opt for 8am. If you constantly exit usta and UTR tournaments after one round, I can see your point of view.

The reason there are morning matches is because the second round is held later in the same day.


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[Ronaldo]

Denny's?

Tim Hortons

 

[tennis tom]

There are very few things in life that are better done between 10pm and Midnight than are done between 6 am and 8 am. Clubbing and watching fireworks are about it.

I don't know if I'd want you performing a circumcision revision on me doc at 6:00 am, after you've been out clubbing the night before.

 

[SaaKha]

Would you eat bacon at that time? If you are ok with eating bacon at 8am, then that means you are ok with having a beer with your bacon. And if you can drink beer at 8am, you should be good for tennis. Don't be such a snowflake.

I don’t eat bacon at all actually

 

[OnTheLine]

I don’t eat bacon at all actually

Well, at least we found the root of the whole problem.

 

[darkhorse]

8am is pretty much my limit, anything earlier will be a struggle for me. I don't usually feel very sharp that early

 

[Ronaldo]

I don’t eat bacon at all actually

Baco's???

 

[tennis tom]

...i used to force myself to get up early on saturday to play a bunch of friendly sets with a gang a of guys i know,

Yup! A guy I knew was on the Board of Gov's of a club, and got me a free membership so I could play with his group at 6am! years ago--I can't believe that I was doing it!--but I did--it may have even been for a few mornings a week--I've thankfully expunged that period from my memory bank--can't believe I was there, must of had to be up by 5am to do it?
That ended abruptly after he left town suddenly getting caught embezzling money from a social tennis club's t-shirt account--last I heard he was a designated dancer for old broads on cruise ships.

Then I would do yoga at 7:30 am before my tennis clinics--that was a stretch on my homeostasis too!

 

[SaaKha]

Baco's???

Nah

 

[Ronaldo]

Nah

Chicken, bacon, & ranch dressing Breakfast of Champions

 

[heftylefty]

tennis tom, my brother, you forgot about the time spent selecting the playlist for your headphones for the drive to the courts and pre-match warmup.

#priorities

 

[Mongolmike]

Yup! A guy I knew was on the Board of Gov's of a club, and got me a free membership so I could play with his group at 6am! years ago--I can't believe that I was doing it!--but I did--it may have even been for a few mornings a week--I've thankfully expunged that period from my memory bank--can't believe I was there, must of had to be up by 5am to do it?
That ended abruptly after he left town suddenly getting caught embezzling money from a social tennis club's t-shirt account--last I heard he was a designated dancer for old broads on cruise ships.

Then I would do yoga at 7:30 am before my tennis clinics--that was a stretch on my homeostasis too!

Golfers are the worst. A group wanted me to join them for a 6am tee time.... are you nuts? The grass is so wet with dew your shoes got soaked even if they were water resistant, you had to wipe down every club every swing, the ball rolled shorter in the wet.... no. Just no.

 

[CosmosMpower]

Before 7 AM, hell no.

 

[kevrol]

Any tournament you sign up for you should be prepared to play at 8am. Completely acceptable start time.

 

[5sets]

Agreed. The worst is an evening start time, like 5 pm for a usta tourney. You have to sit around with butterflies all day and not eat a big meal or drink alcohol.

It’s best to just get up and get to it. Rise and shine.


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[wings56]

First match at sectionals is 7 am ..

 

[mmk]

I'm at work at 6AM on weekdays, wouldn't have any problems playing then. And outdoors in the DC-area summer I'd rather be done before 10AM, it is usually too hot and humid after that.

 

[Dartagnan64]

I don't know if I'd want you performing a circumcision revision on me doc at 6:00 am, after you've been out clubbing the night before.

Most surgeons I know are up at 5 am. Your lucky I'm just a brain guy. you won't see me anywhere hear your smaller head.

 

[tennis tom]

5am!--WHOO--I only get up that early for getting into the standby line to get on the ferry over to the island. The brain is a very important element in the mindbody equation that was ignored by the Cartesians--as the Good Doctor John Sarno MD, elaborated on in his four books discussing his clinical findings over fifty years about the topic of chronic pain--hence all the tennis talk about "getting into our opponent's heads" and vice versa--he was a tennis player too.

 

[Mugu]

it depends how old you are. if you are 17, then time doesn't matter. any of the 24 hours in a day will do just fine. if you are 55, well.. then tennis
should never be played before 11am.

 

[OnTheLine]

it depends how old you are. if you are 17, then time doesn't matter. any of the 24 hours in a day will do just fine. if you are 55, well.. then tennis
should never be played before 11am.

Amusing .... as most of the Masters age group (I refuse to say senior ) are at the club before 8am and gone by 11 .... when you won't see them is anytime after the sun goes down and the lights come on.

 

[Gemini]

Yeah..I prefer as early as possible AFTER the mosquitoes have retreated. 8am is no problem.

 

[tennis tom]

Amusing .... as most of the Masters age group (I refuse to say senior ) are at the club before 8am and gone by 11 .... when you won't see them is anytime after the sun goes down and the lights come on.

YUP! They're in bed having sex.

 

[tennis tom]

.... as most of the Masters age group (I refuse to say senior )

Agree! If they would change the terminology from "senior tennis" to "MASTERS" there would be a lot more players signing up for age group tournaments--especially women. "Seniors" is a pejorative, especially in kali where it's against the law to grow old. Any player over 30 qualifies as a "senior" in age group tennis--Roger is a Senior. Swimming and running call it "Masters", so should tennis.

 

[MajesticMoose]

This weekend I had to play Thurs at 6pm. Friday at 9am and 6pm. Then Saturday at 8am and 11am.

It sucked and I'm completely drained still. It was a rather warm weekend too.

 

[5sets]

That’s exactly what you sign up for
When you enter a usta tournament though.

It’s not like they hide it.


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[Fairhit]

I usually play 6:00 am in the weekdays.

 

[Moveforwardalways]

8am on a Saturday is a perfectly normal start time for a tournament match. When I played juniors, tournaments routinely had matches starting at 8am on weekends. My dad and I would even get up and drive 40+ minutes to tournaments on a weekend for an 8am start time. Not sure what the issue is.

 

[WestboroChe]

Amusing .... as most of the Masters age group (I refuse to say senior ) are at the club before 8am and gone by 11 .... when you won't see them is anytime after the sun goes down and the lights come on.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[brettatk]

8:00 am is a fairly normal start time for any tournament. I've played several State tournament matches with USTA where we started at 7:30.

 

[sureshs]

I like to start tennis around 11 am, after waking up late at 8 and then having a good brunch, with plenty of time for multiple cups of coffee to facilitate a great "download." That is when I like to head out to the courts. Moreover, waking before 8 am makes it impossible to sleep a little late and enjoy the previous evening.

 

[mmk]

it depends how old you are. if you are 17, then time doesn't matter. any of the 24 hours in a day will do just fine. if you are 55, well.. then tennis
should never be played before 11am.

I'm 63 and would much rather play at 6AM than 11AM, especially during the summer.