The coaches behind top tennis players agree: sleep is not a luxury.
When a professional tennis player loses a match, the next conversation usually focuses on tactics, footwork, or serve percentage. The conversation rarely starts with the previous night But information like what time the athlete went to bed, whether the sleep environment was cool enough, and whether their body actually recovered are critical pieces of information. The coaches who build and protect careers at the highest level know this and are asking these questions. Every morning, before a single ball is struck, they want to know: how did Sabalenka, or Fritz, sleep?
We sat down with three of the best in the business, Michael Russell, James Delgado, and Anton Dubrov, to understand how sleep fits into the architecture of elite performance. What they shared was direct, evidence-backed, and at times surprising.
Sleep is a training block: not a recovery afterthought
All three coaches use identical language when they talk about sleep: it is part of training, not separate from it. Anton Dubrov is the most explicit.
“I always think about sleep as one part of training. Most adaptation, everything we practice on the court, happens during sleep, especially deep sleep. The better you sleep, the better you will perform. No matter how hard you train, if you are under-recovered all the time, it is not going to help you.”
— Anton Dubrov, coach of Aryna Sabalenka
Michael Russell builds this directly into Taylor Fritz’s programme. The target is nine hours of sleep per night, not as a stretch goal, but as a baseline non-negotiable. “We really stress the nine-hour sleep,” Russell explains. “That is where you can hit the deep REM state and you genuinely feel better the next day. If Taylor plays a five-hour match in 100-degree heat and is really putting his body through it, he needs nine hours or more. That is not optional.”
Jamie Delgado takes it further. At morning team meeting, the first question asked every day, before training loads, tactics, or scheduling, is: how did you sleep? The answer dictates how the day is structured. “If he has not slept well, it affects quality,” Delgado says. “You are losing days. We cannot afford to have too many average sessions or miss days. You start falling behind.”
Jamie Delgado. Photo: Unbox Sports
Sleep vs. recovery tools: the late-night decision
One of the most revealing moments in the interviews came when coaches were asked about a scenario every tennis team faces: a late-night match finish, an early start the next day, and a choice between physio treatment and sleep.
Both Russell and Delgado gave the same answer independently. Sleep wins.
Delgado referenced a decision made just days before the interview, during the Indian Wells tournament:
“We had a late match and a big decision on how much treatment he had that night, because he was playing the next day. We actually cut down the physio treatment to get the sleep. We put sleep first. Because during sleep your body is recovering, doing real repair. It is just as important as what the physio is doing. Probably more.”
— James Delgado
Anton Dubrov adds important nuance on timing: after a late match, he recommends a seven-to-ten-minute bike cooldown, food, and 60 to 90 minutes to decompress — then bed. Not two hours of treatment. Not cycling for half an hour to check a box. “Prioritise sleep. It is more important. The longer you delay your sleep, the worse the recovery. Get out of the venue, go to your room, shower, and sleep.”
Michael Russell — Coach of Taylor Fritz. Photo: gettyimages
Temperature, environment, and the problem of travel
All three coaches converge on the same three environmental conditions for quality sleep: darkness, quiet, and cool temperature. But consistently achieving those three things while travelling 35 to 40 weeks a year is another matter entirely.
Russell frames it simply: “Dark. Cool. Quiet. If you can keep all three, that is ideal for finding optimal sleep.”
Dubrov is particular about temperature. His optimal sleep temperature is 68°F (20°C), and he points to the science clearly:
“So many studies show that a cooler room is much better for deep sleep. You can even drop one or two degrees lower than you think is comfortable and it is actually going to help you even more with recovery. Some athletes sleep at 16°C, which sounds like a freezer. But if it works and you feel better for it, why not?”
— Anton Dubrov, coach of Aryna Sabalenka
It is exactly the range the Pod by Eight Sleep is designed to maintain, removing the hotel room variable for athletes who cannot afford to leave temperature to chance.
Dubrov travels with the same pillow everywhere. He deliberately requests rooms on higher floors, away from elevators and street noise. He uses blackout curtains and, critically, only books rooms with functioning air conditioning. “We can spend thousands of dollars on the right shoes, rackets, and strings,” he says, “but then arrive at a hotel with a random pillow, no AC, and no blackout curtains, and not think about recovery at all. It makes no sense.”
Jamie Delgado raises a challenge familiar to many British athletes and coaches: summer heat with no air conditioning. Wimbledon, the most important grass-court event in the world, falls during the UK’s hottest weeks, and most homes and hotels in Britain are not air-conditioned. “It seems crazy that during the most important time of the year, you cannot get the basics of a good rest right. This year will be the first summer I have Eight Sleep in the UK. I have thought about it a lot… how much better I am going to feel.”