General Jun 6, 2026 5 min read

Playing tennis in the heat

Blue sky, high clouds, barely any wind. The kind of day that looks like perfect tennis.

You warm up with your opponent, hitting mini tennis. Super chill. Everything is in control. Spin the racket, you get to serve first. You toss the ball, it blinds you and you try to remember your regular toss habit to avoid looking into the sun.

Three games later you're sitting at the changeover sweating like crazy and panting. Your opponent isn't in better shape either. You both sit there, and neither bothers to say a word, let alone get off the bench. You wish a cloud would pass over.

Yeah, welcome to summertime.

The outdoor courts get all the benefits from the sun. You are sunbathing on the courts anytime you are playing. Maybe you should consider bringing all the beach stuff out next time. Isn't that nice?

Then you finally decide to get up, because someone has to make the first move, and your opponent follows. Keep the match going, and you are ready to suffer. Just get over it this time.

We've all played that match. The good news is the next one is mostly decided before you walk on, and that part you control. Here's how.

Match prep: the day before and the morning of

Most of hydration is a day-ahead job. You can top up the morning of, and you should: a glass or two a couple hours before, then a last cup ten or fifteen minutes before you walk on. What you can't do is fix a real deficit by chugging at the warmup; it just sits in your stomach or runs straight through you. So drink steadily the day before, enough that you're going to the bathroom and it's pale, and go easy on alcohol the night before, because it's a genuine diuretic that leaves you down a quart before you start. Coffee in your normal amount is fine; it hydrates about as well as water. Show up topped off, because once you're playing in the heat you're only ever falling behind on fluid, never quite catching up.

Food is the same story, planned backward from when you actually play. Complex carbs a few hours out give you something that's still burning in the third set: oats, quinoa, brown rice, whole-grain bread or pasta, the boring stuff. Match time decides the meal. An 8am match means a real breakfast you can stomach early or a smaller one closer in. A 2pm match means lunch is the thing that matters and breakfast is just keeping the tank from running dry. Don't try anything new on a match day; the warmup is not the time to learn how your stomach feels about a new bar.

Fuel and fluids while you're playing

Drink on a schedule, not on thirst. In the heat thirst shows up late, well after you've started running a deficit, so by the time you want a drink you're already behind. Take fluid every changeover whether you feel like it or not.

On a short, cool match, plain water's fine. It's the long, hot, sweaty ones where what you drink matters, because there you're losing salt as fast as water. Drinking only water then can backfire. It dilutes the salt you have left, which is how cramps start. Drink enough of it and you water down your blood sodium far enough to leave you dizzy and nauseous. So on the hot days the fluid has to carry electrolytes. All forms of electrolytes work: caps you swallow, chews, the salty candy, a sports drink, or a bottle you mixed yourself. Homemade is the cheapest version, and it can actually taste good. Call it a match-ready margarita (hold the tequila), for a 27oz bottle:

2 tbsp agave nectar
2.5 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp salt
ice, then fill the rest with water

That's most of what's in the expensive bottle, for pennies.

For food on the court, small and fast carbs beat a meal. A few dates or a bit of banana between games tops up sugar without sitting heavy. A running gel is the move for a long third set, the moment you can feel the tank getting low and you've still got work to do. Anything that fits in a side pocket and goes down easy works. Keep snacking, keep fueling. You are more focused and play better when the tank isn't empty.

Cool the body and the mind whenever you can

Drinking barely cools you down; the cooling that counts happens on the outside. Use all your changeovers, sit down, put a cold wet towel or a bag of ice on the back of your neck and your wrists, where the blood runs close to the skin, and find the shade if you can. A portable fan or a cool mist bottle helps too.

Between points, slow down, take a break. The heat makes you irritable and rushed, and rushing in the heat is how you cook yourself. Don't waste your energy. Take the walk to the fence, back to the baseline, bounce the ball a bit longer. Breathe.

Know when it stops being toughness

Past a point, pushing through the heat is just dangerous. Learn the signals your body sends before it quits on you: a cramp that keeps coming back, a headache that won't lift, goosebumps or chills when it's 95 degrees out, feeling cold or stopping sweating when you should be pouring, going dizzy or vague on the changeover. Don't try to play through those. That's your body out of room.

When you get there, stop. Get in the shade, get fluid in, get something cold on your neck. If the chills or confusion don't clear fast, get help right away; don't wait it out. No club match, no league point, no round robin standing is worth a trip to the hospital. Retiring at 4-4 beats collapsing up a break, and the toughest thing you do in the heat is sometimes calling it.

Review your gear pack checklist

The courts are baking in the heat and you don't want your gear to touch the scoring surface and cook everything inside. You want your water cool, fruit fresh, dates dry, and the banana not turned to mush. Not to mention the heat damage to the rackets. So hang your bag on the fence if you can. Bring a lightweight soft cooler for your food and drinks along with some ice packs.

The pack list for a sweaty match:

Water, electrolytes, and snacks. Ice the bottle. Bananas, dates, or a gel for quick energy; electrolyte caps for cramps.
A spare racket, or extra overgrips. A sweaty grip slips, and a slipping grip sprays the ball long. Swap to a dry-gripped racket, or regrip between sets.
More towels and sweatbands than you think. A towel you can't wring out does nothing, and a headband that keeps sweat out of your eyes is worth a point a game.
Sun protection. Hat or visor on before you walk out, sunglasses to kill the glare, sunscreen on early and again when you towel off. The sun you shrug off now is a dermatologist visit later.
A dry change. A fresh shirt and socks at the changeover reset you more than they should; pack band-aids too, because wet feet blister.

Now picture your next match. Blue sky, high clouds, the same sun on the same court. You're fueled up, hydrated, and covered against the sun. You warm up, you spin for serve, you toss into the same glare, but the sun and the heat don't get to you anymore. It's still uncomfortable, just much more tolerable. Three games in, you're the one who isn't wilting. You get an iced towel on your neck, take a bite of banana, sip the cool water. You just play your usual game. You're already ahead of your opponent.

Yeah, welcome to summertime.