“I feel fit,” Tiafoe told reporters at his post-match news conference on Monday. “Like my fitness is solid right now. I have lost a lot of weight. Really spend time on it.”
Wayne Ferreira has emphasized fitness since becoming Tiafoe’s coach in February 2020, but this year Ferreira and others on the Tiafoe team have noticed a change in the way Tiafoe has approached stretching. and injury prevention exercises in the gym. Consistency has been key, says his team.
“I think he has a much better daily routine,” Ferreira said. “Even before games, he gets a little bit of exercise.”
In addition to Ferreira, Tiafoe is often joined on the trail by Bret Waltz, his physical therapist, and TC Costello, his strength and conditioning coach.
And while most people don’t have a tennis coach, physical therapist or personal trainer, Costello believes Tiafoe’s routine can help tennis players of all levels. Below are three exercises that Costello said are part of Tiafoe’s training program.
Medicine ball exercises are a staple of Costello’s training for tennis players. The day after Tiafoe beat Nadal, Costello had Tiafoe do 30 minutes of light medicine ball work and movement exercises before Tiafoe hit the court for 30 minutes.
“For tennis, I really love doing medicine ball drills, working on power,” said Costello, senior director of athlete development at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Maryland, where Tiafoe trained. “It’s so similar to tennis, throwing a medicine ball, that it translates very well to the sport.”
To properly perform this exercise, find a wall that you can throw a medicine ball against. Costello recommends using a medicine ball that weighs between four and eight pounds or one that can be thrown with “maximum intent.” It can’t be too heavy or you won’t be able to throw the ball as hard, he added.
Next, stand with your feet parallel to the wall, which is called a split stance in tennis. Bring the medicine ball to the side with your knees bent and charge from the leg closest to the ball while driving the ball as fast as possible toward the wall, Costello said. Repeat this movement with the medicine ball five times. Take a three minute break and then do another set of five before switching sides for two more sets of five.
For the closed stance, turn your body and feet to the sides of the net. Load on the back leg and drive forward. Do two sets of five repetitions on each side while resting three minutes between sets. This exercise can also be done with someone throwing the ball to you. In that version, you catch the medicine ball after a rebound, charge and drive from your back leg as you throw the ball back.
“The key to that drill is throwing the ball as hard as possible, pushing off your back leg and making sure you get past that hip and transfer your weight and push the ball as fast as you can,” Costello said. . “Because that’s how you develop power. If you just go through the motions and gently throw the medicine ball against the wall, you’re not doing anything.”
Tiafoe is known for his speed. He can chase shots and hit winners as fast as he can.
One of the footwork and agility drills that Costello likes involves reaction time. She takes four cones and places them about 10 feet apart in a square shape. He stand in the middle. When he works with Tiafoe, Costello will point to the cone he wants Tiafoe to move towards. Tiafoe will then take quick steps towards the cone and then back to the center of the square before moving on to the next cone Costello says.
having a reactionary [component]where I’m pointing at different areas to keep the player engaged translates to tennis because you don’t know where [opponents are] he’s going to hit the ball,” Costello said.
For quickness and quickness, do three sets of this exercise for 20 seconds each time, with a minute of rest in between. It can last a bit longer if done as a conditioning exercise.
“The movements are very similar to tennis, and I want [tennis players] stay real low and be fast, go down, touch the cone, get back in the middle, react to wherever I say,” Costello said. “If it’s one of the cones on the back, turning those hips really fast and pushing back, then the movements are similar to tennis, so you get a little bit of quickness, footwork, agility work, but also reaction work. . also.”
A strong and stable core is important for tennis players of any level. Costello prefers to train the core through anti-rotation, anti-flexion, and anti-extension exercises. One exercise he recommends is commonly known as the Pallof press.
“Because it’s an anti-rotation drill,” Costello said. “It’s working all of our core muscles.”
This can be done with a band or cable machine. Stand up straight and pull a tightly tied band toward the center of your body and then inward, slightly below your chest. Extend your arms out and then back. Keep your core tight and engaged. The point of the exercise is that while the band or cable is pulling you in one direction, you don’t allow it to move your core. “You’re trying to keep your core as stable as possible,” Costello said.
Do three sets of two 12 repetitions. There are variations of the exercise where a person is in a kneeling or lunge position.
Part of the reason Tiafoe has been successful this year is because he has been more consistent in his fitness, Costello said.
That includes nutrition. “He’s just being a little bit smarter with what he eats,” Costello said, adding that Tiafoe doesn’t adhere to any specific diet. (“Morton’s Steakhouse,” Tiafoe said when asked by a reporter what he had ordered with Uber Eats earlier this week. “I’m still eating well. Don’t worry about it… We still give them good dishes. It’s just that in the crib .”)
His success isn’t due to a “magic trick or anything,” Costello said; instead, it is about his dedication to all that is required of an elite athlete.
“Doing everything with 100 percent commitment, whether it’s the warm-up, cool-down, injury prevention work, little exercises to keep the shoulder healthy, doing it with 100 percent commitment and doing it consistently,” he said . he said she. “That’s been huge for him this year.”
