It’s been a long time coming (both my new blog post and subsequent off-season-training-reimagined news). So what the hell happened? And why is the title making it sound like a tennis version of “Heated Rivalry“?
Trying to pick where I left off which was around mid-September and me being very excited to maximize time away from the tournaments by powering through my off-season training. I had already built a solid base since May with targeted strength training as well as weekly footwork/plyometrics/conditioning so the next logical step was to really get my legs out from under my ass and start bouncing around the court like a basketball (aka start the transition to more explosive workouts). Besides that me and my PT went over my general workout schedule as well and at the end of September put together a program with the idea to target everything: plyo, strength, stability, mobility as well as cardio in addition to trying to squeeze in at least 3 tennis sessions per week. I was amped and the idea of turning into amateur Jannik Sinner sounded phenomenal in my head.
Fast forward approximately 4 weeks and I now sit on my sofa while my right knee has politely told me to “take five”. Apparently I’m still struggling to embrace the ‘amateur’ part in my self proclaimed professional amateur title. If you are a normal person without 24/7 access to physiotherapists and have a long running history of various health issues, you should NOT ramp up your training from 100 to 200% overnight. Going from 100 to 125 would have been just fine for starters. Long story short, the sudden increase in heavy impact of plyometrics was most likely the last straw for my already dodgy lower body that’s been bothering me for years. The list is long – frequent shin pain, calf cramps, tense quads and hamstrings, knees naturally dropping inside #disneyknees and so on. By some miracle everything held together all the way through my week long holiday in the Albanian alps which consisted some very solid hiking days with a lot of elevation and then right on cue my knee gave me a massive “fuck you” in the last 10 minutes of my first footwork session after coming back. I do possess a high pain tolerance but even I am not immune to the feeling getting stabbed in the knee while I’m walking up the stairs. How am I supposed to live, laugh, love in these conditions? On a positive note, regular walking and some degree of bending is still pain free and I intend to keep it that way until I figure out how to rehab my knees into oblivion. Physio assessment is still pending since obviously my injury happened exactly when it’s national school holiday week in Belgium and everyone’s away. However, based on my research on Google, for once WebMD is not threatening me with cancer diagnosis and is suggesting patellar tendinitis (jumper’s knee) instead. To be fair, all things considered it sounds very logical response to repetitive stress, muscle imbalances, sudden load increases and surface mechanics.
What actually makes this situation annoying are approximately three things. Firstly, I had some very minor knee pain flare ups already earlier in autumn and I wrote them off as “regular everyday” issues instead of actually working on doing super targeted stabilization and rehab exercises for my lower body. Secondly, I had just taken two weeks off from tennis to rest my wrist which was acting up a little bit and giving me hard time when I didn’t hit balls dead centre so now the injury break just keeps extending. Thirdly, I was hypothetically speaking ready to do whatever it takes this off-season to get the best prep for indoor tournaments that I possibly can. Now I have no idea how much of the condition and shape am I actually able to retain throughout this X amount of time that I need to take easy and when can I even play normally again. Cancelling every single tennis practice planned for this week after how excited I was for all of them is so demoralizing. And before someone comes and tells me something about it building resilience and character: I have had to build enough of both during my 26 years of living so if I could just get a break and do the sport I like HEALTHY, it would be much appreciated.
Taking after the world top players (Sinner and Alcaraz) and collecting their health issues (knee and wrist) is not my preferred form of “imitation is the highest form of flattery” but it is what it is and hopefully one day I can have 10% of their actual on court abilities instead. On the other hand, there is no better time than now to rehab and stabilize the hell out of every part of my body as well as focus on other parts of my off-season program that don’t require me to do jumping lunges with switch mid-air (might tie as my most hated exercise together with pistol squats).
Last but not least, don’t do stupid stuff like I do and actually address (health) issues already when they are just minor because once they are major, the road to recovery gets a whole lot longer. And if you do end up in a similar situation anyway: it’s also okay to sit on your living room floor, attempt to cry for 5 minutes and then laugh and think “okay whatever the hell” and keep looking forward.
Nr of hours spent on tennis court (before my wrist and knee took time off) between 14/09-08/11: 14.5
~ good vibes are welcome – S.