Gibbs ready to rest, recover and reset during offseason

Sam Groth and Nicole Gibbs are giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at the world of professional tennis all year long in My Tennis Life. To read more updates from Sam and Nicole, go to tennischannel.com.

With the 2017 season finally coming to a close, my schedule has changed from days full of game planning and training to time spent at home and 14-hour nights of sleep. After a brief celebratory weekend in Vegas with my boyfriend and his family, I am back in Los Angeles and in the midst of a three day juice cleanse.

My hope is to rest, recover, and hit the reset button this week before getting back to some physical training on Monday. I know it sounds crazy, but a week-and-a-half of pure rest is just about standard for tennis players after our ten month season.

I have mixed feelings reflecting on what has been a tumultuous year. While I’m disappointed to find myself just outside of the Top 100 yet again (at No. 109), I recognize that in light of losing two months of my season to injury, and being unable to compete at Wimbledon, things could have been much worse. While it can be unsettling to not know what’s next in terms of a full-time coaching setup, I’m also excited by the idea of fresh energy to launch a good start to 2018.

My boyfriend, Jack, encourages me to view 2017 as a “building year” for my tennis. No, it didn’t end up being a poster year in terms of achievements, but many lessons were learned, important people added to my team, and others subtracted.

At the age of 24, and after 4 full years on tour, I feel like I’m only just entering the prime of my career, and all of the lessons learned in difficult seasons like this one will be essential to making the most of this window. I’m sure I will have more thoughts and reflections on what I can take away from this year, and predictions about what my tennis life will look like moving forward. But, for now, I’m going to make the best of a week without worry or consequence, and rest for what will be an important and challenging preseason.