Tomas Berdych: Kids playing tennis five hours a day is not good
doesnt believe that a ten-year-old kid who dreams of having a great professional tennis career should train for too many hours a day. In a conference call with children at the Qatar Exxon Mobil Open in Doha, Berdych was asked how much he trained at the age of 10. I dont think there was that many hours of tennis, said the Czech player.
I would say maybe one or two a day, but I think what it is very important in that age is also that you try to also gain some other skills, especially in the sport because being complex, its very important so doing lots of running, even playing just football and all those kind of things.
It is very important because all that you can very well transfer to tennis. I dont think that if the kids that are ten-years-old playing five hours tennis a day is really good because what hes going to do then, what hes going to do when hes 15, 16? There is the very important time that you have to practice a lot.
When you are ten, I think one or two hours a day is maximum. Now, Berdych trains for fewer hours than in the past: I need to take care of my body a little bit more than I used to, he explained.
And so I have to split my day a little bit more between the tennis practice, fitness practice and then also recovery. So, now the tennis is around two, two-and-a-half hours, plus some fitness, so something around that. Whom does he like to play as an opponent? Anyone that I can beat! Berdych joked. No, its – you know, this is very hard to pick because we dont have that opportunity in tennis that we can choose the opponents.
So we have to be ready for whoever comes up and whoever is the one across the net. But there are guys that I like to play a little bit more with them, somebody a little bit less. Its – thats the beauty of the sport.
Not every single guy is the same one and everybody can make you work really hard. ALSO READ: Rafael Nadal: Worse players than David Ferrer won a Grand Slam title
