Tennis: The Great Mystery of the Off-Season – Why Nobody Really Knows How to Rest

Despite the millions invested in performance, break management remains an often contradictory domain.

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Arthur Millot

le 11/12/2025 à 17h06

1 min to read

Extraits de Dossiers Osaka Naomi

While modern tennis has never been so physically demanding, total confusion persists around a crucial subject: what is the ideal break for a top-level player?

The off-season, this major blind spot of world tennis

It's the irony of modern tennis: while every shot is dissected, one of the most decisive aspects of performance, break management, remains a territory often full of contradictions.

Indeed, public studies on the subject vary and from one specialist to another, information can completely change.

Recommendations that change... from one coach to another

And in this scientific desert, each camp has its own religion.

If a coach swears you must completely stop for two weeks, a physical trainer might assert that "ten days is already too much" or that "without three weeks of progressive work, a player cannot last the year."

Result: no consensus, except that nobody really knows.

An impossible equation for the players

At the heart of this issue, the players are the first to suffer.

Because the break, this moment meant to offer respite and reconstruction, often turns into an impossible puzzle: accumulated fatigue after an endless season, sponsor obligations, very enticing invitations to lucrative exhibitions.

A reality that is therefore brutal: the off-season is no longer a period of rest, but a permanent juggling act.

Find the full investigation on Tennis Temple

"Tennis: The Little-Known Truths About the Off-Season, Between Rest, Stress, and Physical Survival" available by clicking here.