Every squad and elite player is measured at the start of each term, and the number I look at first is not strength. It is height, against the last three terms, because a rapid growth phase changes what a body can safely do on a tennis court for a few months, and a training plan that ignores it produces the overuse injuries that end junior seasons.
Through a growth phase we reduce load rather than intensity: fewer sets, the same quality, more landing mechanics and less power. Parents sometimes see this as a step back. It is the opposite; it is the reason the player is still training in March.
The two weeks
The elite programme has two compulsory rest weeks in August, and they are compulsory because nobody takes them voluntarily. A player who trains fifty-two weeks a year arrives at the autumn hard-court block already tired, and every screening result we have says the same thing: the fortnight off is where the next season is won.
