Here’s how you can support your play through eating well with expert advice from nutritionist Dan Ellis.

Carbs are your friend

“I’d advise bracketing your tennis sessions with ample carbohydrate. That doesn’t mean you need to be carb loading by chomping down big bowls of pasta.

But, it certainly means you should be including around two or three tennis-ball-sized portions of lower GI carbohydrate with your lunch (brown rice, sweet potato, quinoa etc).

The amount can be influenced by your plans, so will the session be higher demand (like a match) or will it be a lower demand (are you just going for a hit)?

It’s also good to eat an afternoon snack around an hour before tennis – that can be an oat bar with a portion of fruit. On a non-tennis day, just swap the oat bar for a handful of nuts.

After your match or training, follow this up with some carbohydrate with your evening meal too, again this can be around two or three tennis ball sized portions of carbohydrate (increase the amount depending on how hard and how long you played for).”

Eat protein to repair

“Now think about including some protein in these meals to help support your body adapt, repair and strengthen the muscles you’ve started using again for tennis.

This can be through animal or plant sources (chicken, beans, fish, lentils, eggs, tofu etc.) A quick Google search can help you look for sources that would give you 20-30g of protein at each meal.

Don’t forget your carbohydrate choice may also provide some protein too, and vice versa.”

Keep on top of your immune system

“We are living in a time in which our immunity is at the forefront of our minds and while we can’t ‘boost’ our immune system, we can certainly ensure is it operating well.

We can do this quite simply through eating a variety of fruits and vegetables at each meal to ensure sufficient intake of all key vitamins and minerals (these include copper, folate, iron, selenium, zinc and vitamins A, B6, B12, C and D).

Also include some healthy fats (essential fatty acids) that are high in Omega 3. Oily fish (like salmon, or mackerel) are great for this as they tick the protein box too.

They are called essential as they quite literally are essential for life maintaining functions, but research also shows they may be helpful with reducing inflammation as well as supporting heart health, brain and eyesight function.

Including healthy fats with your meal also helps the transportation of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.

Build each meal and snack around these fundamentals and look to factor them into your recipes for not only the whole family to enjoy, but to recover, adapt, keep healthy and enjoy their tennis.

Three recipes to try:

Quinoa stuffed aubergines

Serves two

Ingredients

• 2 Aubergines
• 160g quinoa
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Handful of dried apricots, roughly chopped
• Handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
• Handful of black olives, halved
• Small bunch of parsley, roughly chopped
• Handful of mint, roughly chopped
• Handful of toasted pumpkin seeds

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Cook your quinoa according to packet instructions, and allow to cool.
3. Meanwhile, halve the aubergine, score the flesh, brush with the oil and top with a good grind of black pepper and sea salt.
4. Roast in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes, or until the aubergine flesh is golden and soft.
5. Once cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh and place in a bowl.
6. Add the cooked quinoa, tomatoes, olives, apricots and parsley to the aubergine flesh and combine.
7. Gently toast your pumpkin seeds in a dry frying pan for a couple of minutes, making sure they don't burn.
8. Scoop back into the aubergine skins and top with the mint and toasted pumpkin seeds.

Oven baked salmon with hazelnut and orange

Serves four

360 calories

Ingredients

• 4 skinless salmon fillets
• 60g blanched (skinless) hazelnuts
• 1 orange, zested and juiced
• 1 tbsp dill, chopped
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C.
2. Add nuts, orange juice, zest, dill, olive oil and seasoning to blender and blitz into a paste.
3. Spread the paste over salmon fillets then bake in the over for 10 minutes until tender.
4. Serve with brown rice or couscous.

Roasted pumpkin and tofu curry

Serves two

400 calories per serving

Ingredients

• 1 small pumpkin
• 2 tbsp mild curry powder
• ½ red onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 40ml groundnut oil
• 5 under-ripe heirloom tomatoes, cut into quarters
• 100g firm tofu, cut into small cubes

For the dressing

• 2 tbsp coconut yogurt
• 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
• Grated zest and juice of ½ lemon
• A handful of pumpkin seeds, toasted

For the salad

• 100g baby spinach leaves
• ½ cucumber, peeled and diced
• A handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped
• Salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas 6. Line a baking tray with baking parchment.
2. Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds and fibres. Cut into 1cm-thick half moons.
3. Combine the curry powder, red onion, garlic and oil in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Add the pumpkin, tomatoes and tofu to the bowl and toss to coat with the spice mixture.
4. Tip on to the baking tray and roast in the oven for 25 minutes, shaking the tray frequently to ensure the pumpkin doesn’t stick and burn.
5. Meanwhile, make the dressing by mixing together all the ingredients.
6. Finely shred the spinach and mix with the cucumber and coriander. Season to taste. Add half of the dressing and toss.
7. Drizzle the rest of the dressing over the curry and serve with the salad.

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