ATP Tour Off-Season – Time to evolve, time to change

Although the tennis off-season seems to be getting shorter every year, players get about a month without serious match play.

Perhaps the most talked about and well-known part of the off-season is that it’s the time when the players go on vacations and but also the time to hit the gym etc. to work on their physical conditioning and form. Off course it’s also the time to hit the courts and maybe try to get rid of some imperfections in the strokes. The Australian Open is the first tournament for many in the new season and the Australian sun in January is very good at exposing the productivity of one’s off-season.

The less known activities are trying out different racket setups, changing rackets, trying different strings and tensions and changing sponsorship deals etc. All this with the goal and hope to play better tennis next year. Players are more or less open to changes during their professional careers and off-seasons, but the ones who have the courage and the knowledge to make positive changes are at the very top of the game.

We’ve heard Roger Federer talk a lot about his racket switch in 2014, and this year Novak Djokovic has, in some interviews, talked about how extra length of his racket is helping him with his serve in 2018, and what lead to his return to the top in 2018. Carlos Moya also commented on some of the changes Rafael Nadal made: »Rafa has put more lead tape in the head of the racket. It was a great idea, which came from Toni before I got there. It brings him more power.« There are many more stories of success connected to equipment change and I’ll go over some of the most memorable and impactful ones in recent years.

  1. Roger Federer
    2013-2014 Off-season: Switch to a bigger head size and a stiffer racket
    2016-2017 Off-season: Minor change in specs of his RF97 – more headlight balance
  2. Novak Djokovic
    2017-2018 Off-season: Longer and lighter racket (but the same base racket) and a different string pattern (18/20 to 18/19)
  3. Rafael Nadal 
    Nadal has been gradually adding more mass to the head and handle of the racket over the years.
    2015-2016 Off-Season: He tried to switch from the RPM blast to Luxilon strings, but later switched back
  1. Dominic Thiem
    2014-2015 Off Season: Dominic switched from the Head Prestige to the Babolat Pure Strike
  1. Stanislas Wawrinka
    2011-2012 Off-Season: A switch from Head PT57 to the Yonex Vcore 95D (he started winning grand slams a year after that)
  2. Denis Shapovalov
    2017 mid-mid season: Switch from a Wilson Six-One 95 to a Yonex Vcore SV95 (first noticeable results came shortly after)
  3. Grigor Dimitrov
    Grigor has been switching rackets a lot over the last couple of years, but as I mentioned in this article in 2018 he has made a change I think will bring him success in the near future
    2018 mid-season: Switch from a Pro staff 90 to some version of the RF97

Have I missed someone important? Comment and let me know.

As you can see, the players who make the right changes and can adapt their game quickly can reap big rewards. But in order to achieve that, everything has to be planned and done with a specific purpose. Their teams also have to come up with a plan on how to adapt their strokes mechanics and game plan to fit the changes best.

Some pro and amateur players can be reluctant or afraid to try anything new in fear of messing up their game. But if you have a sound plan and execute it well like some of the mentioned players have done, a change can be a good and welcoming thing.

Every player constantly changes. We learn, we get better, we get older, stronger or weaker and so on. At all times we should be aware of what equipment to use to best fit us.

I look forward to see what players and their teams will come up with for the 2019 season. Australian Open, as always, will be the most intresting Grand Slam to me.

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