What to drink during the tennis match

or training is equally important as the fact what do we drink or eat before the training.

You have to take care not to be with a full stomach but also not to
be with too little of energy and water.

Taking water while you are sweating is important for the performance.

Some studies showed that if you lose 2% of your weight because of sweating,
your stability and performance will be in danger.

What do we lose during training or match through sweating?

When we sweat, we lose electrolytes, specially Natrium (“Na”) and Potassium (Kalium “K”).

Other electrolytes are also magnesium, calcium, chlorine, phosphates, etc.
Electrolytes are important because they keep the biochemical balance in the body
(pH number – balance among alkaline and acid), they control the water level,
they regulate muscle and nerve function.

How and what you eat and drink really matters so you have to think about
your performance before the match.

If you are, during the match, in deficit with those two electrolytes, what can happen
is muscle weakness, vertigo, cramp, a…

Drinking “plain” water helps but the wise thing to do is to drink enriched
with electrolytes.
Besides this, bananas and some carbohydrates are very welcome as well.
Some chocolate bar or honey can also help if you feel that your energy went down.

Let me give you one of the simple recipes of natural drink with electrolytes,
that we use in our tennis club Partizan (also tennis home
of Djokovic, Ana Ivanovic and Tipsarevic):

Half glass of coconut or simple water, lemon and orange squeezed for another half
of glass, some quality salt (Himalayan or sea), and a spoon of honey or maple syrup.