Short sprint drills help maintain Casey’s power Short sprint drills help maintain Casey’s power. Image: Stefan Postle.

World’s best practice

“When it comes to on-court practice, I like quality over quantity. I’d rather do a great 90 minutes and finish on a positive note, rather than thrash myself. On match days, I’ll warm up for half an hour beforehand, play the match, then work on what I didn’t do particularly well in the match. In full-on training, I spend three or four hours a day on court. Usually in the morning I’ll work on drills and specifics with [coach] Nicole Pratt. In the afternoon, it’s practice sets with another player. In that time, we still work pretty hard.“You don’t need hours and hours on the practice court, getting tired and frustrated. There are definitely times you need to push through on the practice court and work through problems. But mostly it’s about having a purpose or goal to the session.”

Practise as you play

“From hitting with the top girls, the way they train is the way they play. The most intense practice I’ve ever had was with [Japanese veteran and former top tenner] Ai Sugiyama. “Intensity in practice is something I need to improve on. I’m a relaxed person, even if I’m playing a lot of matches. It’s something I’ve learned from [former Aussie No. 1] Pratty. She’s keyed me up for some matches and definitely helped me become a better player. Pratty is the complete opposite to me. I have so much respect for her and loved watching her compete. She’s helped me a lot – she knows most of the players out there and is good with devising a specific game plan going into a match. I’m learning a lot. We’ve worked together since March.“On the practice courts, you do watch what everyone else is doing. Players are sometimes secretive with their practice and that’s understandable – you definitely don’t want to share around the things you’re working on. Many of the girls have male coaches and hitting partners for the nuts-and-bolts practice sessions; but if they need practice sets they’ll hit with another girl. Now that I’m in the top 50, people want to practise with me. I know part of it is that they want to figure out my game.”

Forget fads 

“Tennis is quick to take up any new development in training, equipment or sport science. It does become a bit faddish. The latest buzzword is Spanish drills. Basically, it’s hand-fed drills and you’re on the baseline working side-to-side and looking to improve net clearance, consistency, pace of shot and stamina, depending on the drill. You do wonder why countries like Spain and Russia produce so many quality players, and so young. When I was 16, 17, there’s no way I was at the level of Russian girls the same age. It takes Australians longer to mature – at 23 to 25 is when Aussies really develop.“Tennis is so individual. You keep an eye out for what others are doing but physically, mentally and technically, everyone really focuses on what works for them.”

– Suzi Petkovski