Roberto Bautista (Castellón, 32 years old), number 12 in the world, was to be the captain of one of the two teams (the other will be led by Pablo Carreño) who will compete between this Friday and next Sunday in the inaugural tournament of the Liga MAPFRE, organized by the Spanish Federation (RFET), at the Municipal Tennis Center of the Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona. But he qualified for the semifinals of the exhibition organized by Dominic Thiem in Kitzbuhel (Austria), Thiem's 7, and will not be able to be in the Spanish appointment by coincidence of dates. A few days ago, AS chatted with his coach, the Valencian Pepe Vendrellwho is convinced that his pupil “mentally needed to stop” and that is why the two months of confinement for COVID-19 did not hurt. The coach explained the guidelines to follow to regain the player's form “without immediately seeking a high level.”
When the norms allowed it, Vendrell and Bautista prepared “soft sessions”, which were increasing “in quantity and quality”. At first they started training “without a clear objective.” “The idea was to be half decent in those tournaments, because now there is nothing else to do. He who regulates well will come well. It is clear that Roberto's age does not advise great physical and mental wear now. You have to keep a medium distance, because he takes the form very quickly. With two weeks of intense work I would be ready to compete ”, says Vendrell, who explains how the second best Spanish in the ranking works: “The breaks feel great to him. There are players who need more contact with the routines, but in him it is the opposite, the distance oxygenates him a lot, gives him a freshness that he appreciates on the track afterwards. Each one has a different metabolism and a different mentality, and based on that, they have to prepare. ”
Vendrell believes that “there are many ways” to achieve form before returning to competition. “Burning the ships doesn't solve anything for me. If we wear ourselves out excessively, we will reach that phase with the right forces ”. The coach was in permanent contact with Bautista, who these days will remember his brilliant role at Wimbledon in 2019 (he was a semifinalist) throughout his confinement. “He always had some schedules and routines for the physical trainer so that he would not get up without having to do something and thus have a structured mind. On the contrary, it kills him. Also, since he lives on a farm with a vegetable garden, horses, chickens … he caught up on things he had pending, “explains Pepe, who develops the idea of the benefit that according to him had the break in the tennis player, who has already played a couple of matches a few weeks ago in a mini tournament in Benitachell (Alicante). “Last year, especially the finale, was very intense for him. His father passed away, married, started the preseason, arrived in Australia and was saturated. He couldn't organize everything that had happened in his head. The pregnancy of his wife was also confirmed and this break I hope will have helped him, because he was going full steam ahead. ”
“Smart” preparation
In training, to avoid injury, Vendrell was “little by little, increasing the stimuli and guiding the body for its preparation after two months without playing a racket”. “At first it stopped him a lot. I said, 'You've done enough.' Stopping these guys, with the desire they have to get on the track, is complicated. We biked down the mountain and little by little the heat was noticed. Prevention was essential before adding quality stimuli. You have to vary, be smart, because Rober cannot have two months training at the top, because he is not processed for that, he does three or four weeks of preseason every year at the most ”. All with the aim of competing in September. “You have to be realistic, things look bad, but you don't have to be aware of every news item, because that generates anxiety. Exhibition tournaments will be a tool to seek quality and spend minutes on the track, “concludes the Valencian. Now it is time for both of you to check the results of your painstaking work.