Platform tennis is a winter sport, which means you routinely ask cold muscles to make explosive, twitchy movements the moment you step on the deck. Skip the warm-up and you donate the first game while your body catches up. Ten minutes fixes it.
Start off the court, in the clubhouse if you can. Two minutes of easy movement — marching, arm circles, gentle rotations — just to raise your core temperature and get blood into the hands. Cold hands are slow hands, and slow hands miss the volley.
Move to the deck and start the ball low and short. Mini-tennis inside the service area for three minutes teaches your eyes the winter light and your feet the surface, which plays faster and truer than it does in summer. Keep it soft; you are grooving contact, not competing.
Then open it up gradually. Two minutes of baseline drives, two minutes at the net trading volleys, and one minute of serves. The point is a ramp, not a jump — every phase asks a little more range and a little more pace than the last, so nothing goes from cold to maximal in a single swing.
Finish with the shot you trust least. If your backhand screen is shaky, hit ten of them with intent before the first serve counts. You warm up not just to loosen the body but to walk on already believing in the stroke you will need at four-all.