Sam Stosur has been training with the Australian kayak team

While most of us are preparing for the season of goodwill and good food, the world's tennis stars have already turned their attention to another gruelling season ahead. The last action of 2010 for the leading women came in the Fed Cup final at the start of November, and the race is well and truly on to be in top shape for the start of the 2011 season on New Year's Day. So what exactly is required to prepare for a 10-month battle against the best players in the world? VERA ZVONAREVA

World number two, Russia

"Right now I'm focusing a lot on my fitness at IMG Academies in sunny Florida after taking about three weeks off, so I'm only training on court for about two hours and then I'm in the gym about four hours. It's a long day but this is normal for the off-season and, as I get closer to the start of 2011, I will gradually increase my time on court and spend less time in the gym. "I'm working with Carlo Tosi, who works for Fysiomed in Amsterdam. He's a physical therapist but he is also taking care of my fitness during my off-season as well. He or one of his colleagues will be travelling with me sporadically during the 2011 season. Fysiomed is where I did my rehab after my ankle surgery in November 2009. This is the time of year where we start fresh and really build the base for the upcoming season." SAM STOSUR

World number six, Australia

Sam Stosur has been pounding the steps of the Gold Coast Fitness trainer Narelle Sibte: "2010 was the busiest year of Sam's career to date. Anticipating a similar number of matches and success for 2011, a priority for the pre-season is to ensure that her body becomes as stable and robust as possible. In the first week or so when we are attempting to accumulate training volume, activities such as kayaking are fantastic for upper body strength, trunk rotation and core stability (I even got some tips from the Aussie K4 team!) . "The other priority is further enhancing her explosive leg strength and footwork. There are numerous locations along Sam's home town of the Gold Coast that provide the stairs and scenery for this type of training. As the Australian summer of tennis approaches her training will become more specific to the demands of hard-court tennis." Sam Stosur: "The Australian kayak team train in the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and are based on the Gold Coast. My fitness trainer, Narelle, also works for the AIS and I had the chance to join in with some of their training sessions. It's a lot of fun and they work very hard so I really enjoyed doing a sport which I have not done before, and trying to keep up with the other girls was very tough." VIKTORIA AZARENKA

World number 10, Belarus

Fitness trainer Scott Byrnes: "Vika's pre-season training is comprised of three main physical components, each with different subsections. The three main components are movement, strength and cardiovascular fitness. Vika's first couple of weeks will be centred around correcting functional weaknesses and muscle imbalances. This ensures all joints and muscles are working in unison. We will train movement patterns using techniques such as reactive neuromuscular training. "Once imbalances have been successfully addressed Vika will then move on to her strength training. She will do all of her strength work in a gym using mostly free weights. Typical strength exercises that Vika will be doing are squats, lunges, dead lifts, chest press, pull downs and a variety of core exercises. "The improvement of Vika's cardiovascular fitness will be targeted at the same time. When training cardiovascular fitness for a tennis athlete it is important to make the workouts as specific to the sport as possible. Therefore, Vika's cardio workouts include a lot of footwork and agility exercises replicating her movement on the court. Examples of these type of exercises are ladder drills and cone agility drills. These exercises make Vika move her feet quickly while keeping her heart rate elevated." ANA IVANOVIC

World number 17, Serbia

Ana Ivanovic is looking to continue her return to form in 2011 "One of the keys to successful training, in my opinion, is to keep things as varied as possible. "I've been doing some fun things like beach volleyball and basketball, and I've been lucky enough to go running among some beautiful landscapes. "In the gym we make things interesting too, with yoga, music and even some boxing movements. "Of course, I also do more traditional stuff like weights and the treadmill, but these are the most interesting activities!" SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA

World number 27, Russia

"My daily practice routine includes a two-hour tennis session on court in the morning, then we have lunch and on some days we watch and analyse some of my matches from the 2010 season. Then I have my afternoon practice on court followed by fitness training and massage. "On 5 December I left Moscow for Dubai to adjust to the warm weather and practice at the Jumeirah Hotel, and I will head straight to Auckland on 27 December. The Jumeirah managers told me it is just me who will be practicing there this December and some other guy named Roger ;) It's a slightly different regime in Dubai as I can swim and jog outdoors between my on-court practices." ELENA BALTACHA

World number 55, Great Britain

"I'm really enjoying the this pre-season training block, even though for the first few weeks I was falling asleep on my sofa almost as soon as I had sat down in the evening because I was so tired! My coach Nino has prepared a very detailed schedule of training, which is designed to build my physical and mental strength gradually over the course of pre-season. The club where I train in Ipswich is nothing fancy - it's got a tennis court and a gym and that's all you really need. That and a lot of hard work, of course!" ANNE KEOTHAVONG

World number 121, Great Britain

"This year, I decided to stay in London for my pre-season training. We spend so much of our year travelling on the Tour and I just wanted to spend some time at home with my friends and family and have a bit of a normal life as well as training hard. "I've been doing a lot of strength work in the gym and willing my muscles to get bigger! As well as the tennis and gym work, I've been doing some boxing and indoor rock climbing as alternative training sessions. It's been hard work but good fun too and although it's too cold to be training outside, that's something I can live with!" FLAVIA PENNETTA

Doubles world number one, Italy

"My daily regime is pretty much training, training, training! I always do two sessions in a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. In the morning I try to focus on fitness by doing gym and body activities like the treadmill, stationary bike and weights, while in the afternoon I play tennis. "This pre-season is a bit short for me since after the Fed Cup final I had to have surgery on my left eye. For this I had to stop for two weeks, which was my only 'relaxing' if we can call it that. It wasn't a great way to relax, but I couldn't do in a different way! Today, I can't wait to go back home for Christmas with my family and to be together with my sister and my friends and eat all the delicious things my mum is going to cook!"



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