In business, they tell you to start at the bottom and work your way to the top. If you are building a house, you have to start with rock-solid foundations.

 

And if you want to be a decent tennis player, you need to work from the bottom up: you need to take care of your feet. Footwork is the key to success.

No matter how much time and attention you put into choosing the perfect racket (or how much money you spend on it), if you can’t get to the shot you need to play, the exercise is doomed. Footwork requires practice, repetition – and a fair degree of fitness. But it also depends on the right equipment. If those tennis shoes you thought looked so smart in the shop do not support, protect and comfort your feet, you are not going to get very far.

Tennis is not a very foot-friendly sport – the feet take a pounding, particularly on a hard court, and a tennis pro’s feet are usually not a pretty sight. But as the old children’s song tells us: “The foot bone is connected to the ankle bone, the ankle bone is connected to the leg bone…” The impact taken by the foot as you run, stop and turn affects the stress placed on the ankles and the knees. That is why players such as David Go n, Coco Vandeweghe and Julia Goerges chose to wear ASICS Solution Speed FF, the lightest of all the tennis shoes and one that combines technology with fashion to create the perfect foundation to their games.

 

Three of ASICS’ key design advances have been combined to create the Solution Speed FF: court specific FlyteFoam, Twistruss technology and Flexion Fit technology. The end result is a shoe that provides speed for covering every inch of the court and stability to provide power from the baseline.

Anyone who has ever owned a pair of ASICS running shoes would be familiar with FlyteFoam, but now the company uses “court specific” FlyteFoam midsoles. Made with reinforced fibres, it provides lightweight, continuous and durable cushioning (so, yes, you will have a spring in your step when you wear these shoes).

The original technology used so successfully in their running shoes has been adapted to meet the very specific needs of the tennis player (more side-to-side and back-force motion). The FlyteFoam midsole in the Solution Speed FF is approximately 35 per cent lighter than the industry standard material and approximately 10 per cent more durable than the FlyteFoam midsoles designed for running shoes.

It is the constant need to change direction on a tennis court, and to do it in a split second, that can make or break a shoe (sometimes, quite literally). The Solution Speed FF uses Twistruss technology to solve this problem, creating a design that allows the player to change direction more quickly without losing momentum. Slits within the unique Trusstic construction increase the range of the internal twist while maintaining a light weight and the plate design works to move the sole in response to the type of side- to-side motions common in tennis. Combined with heel- to-toe GEL cushioning, the shoe gives maximum shock absorption and maximum comfort

 

.

 

But first and foremost, your tennis shoe has to fit if not like a glove then at least like a sock. And that is where the Flexion Fit upper comes into play. It produces a perfectly tailored fit to secure your foot while still giving a free range of movement. Comfort, then, is guaranteed. And with the AHAR Outsole and PGuard Toe Protector, this is a shoe that is built to last.

For the ultimate in comfort and support, the Solution Speed FF also comes with a removable sockliner which allows the shoe to accommodate an orthotic insert. That ensures that these shoes will be the perfect fit for every player who tries them on.

If you start at the bottom with a pair of Solution Speed FF shoes, you will have laid the best possible foundation as you build your way to the top.