If you’ve ever watched a tennis match, you know that tennis players have their own routines and even their own tics. If you’re a tennis fan, you can probably imitate the tics of a few tennis players, like Rafael Nadal (the king of tics), Roger Federer, or Novak Djokovic.
For some reason, professional tennis players develop their perfect routines for before, during, and after a tennis match. By doing so, they try to have an ideal “formula” that they can follow every time in order to play their absolute best. These routines involve which exercises they use to warm up, which music they listen to, and what type of foods they eat.
While each player seems to have their own individual routine, there’s one item that seems to be a part of several players’ on-court rituals, and that is the famous “pink drink” you may have seen on TV. And if you’re curious about what this drink is, you’re not alone.
The pink drink tennis players drink is a combination of liquids and powders that helps players replace electrolytes, gives them extra energy, boosts vitamin levels, and helps them stay focused. While top tennis players have their own formulas designed by nutritionists, you can find similar drink options in vitamin stores – with popular brands being Cytomax, Endurox, and Biosteel.
If you’re interested in knowing a little more about what these drinks are and if they might be a good addition to your tennis game, keep reading on as we will cover the information more in-depth below.
Purposes Of The Pink Drink
Just like any other substance tennis players consume during a match, the pink drinks have very important purposes. Even though players have different recipes for their drinks, most of them try to accomplish the same things – and we will cover them below.
Replacing Electrolytes
One of the main reasons why players choose to drink Cytomax, Endurox, or any other pink drink is because they need to replace lost electrolytes. During a tennis match, players lose a significant amount of electrolytes through their sweat, and this can make their performance worse. It is estimated that during a normal tennis match, you can lose from 0.5L to 3L of water. The more humid the weather, the more you sweat, and the more it is important to replace lost electrolytes through these pink drinks.
At the end of the day, what are electrolytes and why are they even important? In a nutshell, electrolytes are chemicals responsible for carrying “electricity” throughout your body, and this electricity is necessary to kick-off several important functions in your body – including hydration, nerve and muscle function, and tissue repairs.
If your body is running low in electrolytes, your tennis performance will suffer. If the deficit becomes too large, it can lead to muscle cramps – and you definitely want to avoid those. The most common electrolytes are sodium, potassium, and calcium, and drinks like Cytomax, Endurox and Biosteel are full of them.
Give Some Extra Energy
Another reason why tennis players drink the pink drink is to keep their energy levels high. While some of the formulas may even contain caffeine in them, a lot of them just provide energy as a good source of carbohydrates. While regular drinks like Gatorade or Powerade might give you an instant spur of energy, you will eventually go through a sugar-crash. These other specialty drinks like Endurox, Cytomax, and Biosteel are created in a way that you won’t go through a crash.
Since tennis matches can be quite long, it can be challenging to maintain your intensity high. And if you go through energy level drops, you might give your opponent a chance to get back into the match. By drinking the appropriate “fuel”, players can sustain their energy levels throughout the whole match.
Vitamin Boost
These drinks also help players to keep healthy vitamin levels in their system. The reason why this is important is because vitamins assist in the recovery process after tennis matches, and maintaining a healthy level of them can be challenging if you’re just relying on regular meals.
These specialty drinks and shakes are filled with vitamins, which allows players to not only maintain their energy levels high during the match but also recover faster before their next matches.
Stay In The Zone
Another benefit of these specialty energy drinks is that players can stay “in the zone” for longer periods of time. Long tennis matches can have a big impact on players’ bodies, but a lot of times their biggest challenge is to keep their attention and positivity levels through the match. The reason why this happens is because, as our bodies start running low on fuel (glucose), our brains do not have the same capacity to process everything that is going on.
So it’s not just our muscles that become tired, but our brain does so too. Needless to say, it is extremely important to keep our fuel tanks full – and this is where the pink drink comes in. By taking advantage of these specially designed formulas, players are able to stay alert for longer periods of time – not giving a chance to their opponents.
The Most Popular Pink Drinks
Now that we’ve covered the main reasons why tennis players can benefit from drinking those pink drinks you may see on TV, we will go over the most popular choices you have available to you.
Cytomax Tropical Fruit
Cytomax has been around for a while, and this drink is supposed to “reduce the burn during intense exercising and to reduce muscle soreness afterward.” It claims to increase a player’s endurance – without any sugar crash. With only 90 calories per serving, you can buy the Cytomax Tropical Fruit on Amazon for $24.99 (81 servings).
Endurox R4 Fruit Punch
Endurox is another pretty established brand when it comes to sports drinks, and I’ve personally tried the Endurox R4 product before. I feel that it definitely helped me get through long practices without crashing – so I’d recommend it. Endurox claims that the R4 drink can “Increase glycogen replacement by 128%, increase protein synthesis by 400%, and decrease muscle damage by 36%.” You can buy the Fruit Punch R4 on Amazon for $48.00 (28 servings).
Biosteel Mixed Berry
Biosteel is a newer player in the market of sports drink, but it has been gaining popularity quickly. This product is different from the other two above, as it is sugar-free, low-calorie, and fully vegan. Biosteel claims that their product helps to provide “optimal hydration, healthy sustained energy, and improved recovery from fatigue.” You can purchase it on Amazon for $24.99 (20 servings).
Final Thoughts
The pink drink you may have seen professional tennis players drinking is nothing more than an advanced hydration formula for high-performance athletes. These drinks allow players to replace lost electrolytes, get extra energy, boost their vitamin levels, and stay “in the zone” for longer periods of time. We mentioned some of the top brands we like, but there are plenty of options you can find in stores these days. If you think you can benefit from some extra energy on court, you might want to give one of these a try. Just always try to stay away from drinks that have a bunch of sugar in them!