Surbiton_Trophy_Programme_2017

“In the 1940s the Americans
used to bring their own steaks
over because you couldn’t
get them here because of
rationing. They’d put the meat
in the deep freeze at the hotel.”
1947 Wimbledon doubles finalist
Tony Mottram (left)
Tony Mottram
he rackets were wooden, the balls were white,
T the clothing was modest, and the prize
money was non-existent. Life for top players before
tennis went professional in 1968 was radically
different to today in just about every aspect you
can think of: training methods, travel, prize
money, diet, equipment, clothing… you name it.
Here we compare the lot of modern pros to two
players who competed in the 1940s – the 1947
Wimbledon doubles finalist Tony Mottram (who
sadly passed away last year) and the 1949/1950
British champion Joan Hughesman.
Training
Modern pros spend almost as much time in the
gym as they do on the court. Then there’s all
the stretching, ice baths, massages and sports
psychology. Many among the game’s elite travel
with a full-time fitness expert.
Andy Murray, whose fitness trainer is Matt Little,
is one of the most athletic players in the world
right now. His strength workout includes back
squats, box jumps, lunges, split jumps, pull-ups,
medicine-ball throws and core stability exercises.
On the running track he does gruelling 400-metre
sessions. “By the end your legs are like jelly,”
he says.
And his post-match ice baths are now legendary.
“It’s always chilled to the right temperature, about
eight degrees,” he told BBC Sport. “I do eight
minutes straight. The water is moving inside the
ice bath because otherwise your body starts to heat
it up. I might be used to it after all this time but it’s
still not nice, believe me.”
Back in the days of amateur tennis, players rarely
saw the inside of a gym. “In comparison to today,
we did nothing. General jogging but no weights,”
says Tony Mottram, the 1947 Wimbledon doubles
finalist.
Joan Hughesman was British champion in 1949
and 1950. She says she did “no physical training at
all.” “But I lived three miles away from our courts
and I used to walk or run there every day,” she
adds. “That kept me fit.”
Match preparation
Early nights, no drinking, and plenty of beauty
sleep. For most top pros, life on the tour can be
monastic, to say the least. Back in the 1940s,
however, even at tournaments, it was quite normal
to prop up the club bar until the early hours of the
morning.
“Tennis was very social,” says Mottram who
reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon singles
in 1948. “When you packed your case you made
sure you had your tennis rackets and then the next
most important thing was your dinner jacket. We
were expected to socialise and we did.”
“If you liked parties, there were plenty of
parties,” Hughesman remembers. “Some of the
male players drank and gambled a lot. Especially
on the French Riviera.”
www.LTA.org.uk/aegonsurbitontrophy @SurbitonTrophy 21