You know “Just Like Us,” that section of Us Weekly where they show paparazzi shots of celebrities doing everyday things like eating ice cream or putting gas in their cars? Well, this week they could include a photo of Tommy Haas shivering under a blanket on the couch while watching daytime TV amid a pile of tissues. Yes, Haas has contracted the H1N1 virus. Turns out stars are just like us!

But of course H1N1 is not something to be taken lightly. The World Health Organization announced today that it is now the dominant influenza strain around the globe. More than a million people have been infected in the U.S. The scary thing about H1N1 is that there are many cases where it has led to complications causing more serious health issues and even death, especially among those with existing health issues. Most people, however, recover on their own and experience H1N1 as a regular case of the flu. That seems to be how the illness has gone for Haas: “It was a shock for me,” he said in the German newspaper Bild. “I’ve calmed down now because although swine flu is a very strong form of flu, you can quickly overcome it when you’re in good physical condition like I am.”

To prevent H1N1, avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth, be religious about hand-washing, and keep your distance from people who are sick. If you get sick, the Centers for Disease Control recommends that you stay home until at least 24 hours after your fever is gone without the aid of fever-reducing drugs. Haas seems to be following that advice. He pulled out of Basel this week and will probably miss next week’s Paris Masters. Get well soon, Tommy.

I also wanted to take this chance to thank you for your feedback on last week’s blog and pass along this related article on nonprofits' efforts to replace junk food with more quality, fresh foods at convenience stores in areas where there aren't other shopping options. Regardless of your stance in the weight debate, I think most can appreciate what these organizations are doing. And as an update to the Slate article I linked to, Chris Christie ended up winning the governor’s race in New Jersey on Tuesday. I guess his weight wasn’t such a factor, after all.

The estimated 67 percent of adults in the U.S. who are overweight are discriminated against in all parts of their lives, from work to school to the doctor’s office. There are pervasive stereotypes that people who are overweight are lazy or irresponsible or lack will power. Many really think those stereotypes hold true, but others argue that there are other reasons for obesity, such as genetics or low socioeconomic class. We’re so obsessed with waistlines that it seems we won’t even vote for overweight candidates in elections.

Amid all the back and forth, a review came out in September that looks into the basis behind the claim that people can be “fat and fit.” The idea, first studied at Dallas’ Cooper Institute, a nonprofit that promotes fitness, is that it’s better to be overweight and active than to be sedentary and thin. The review shows that, even if an overweight person doesn’t lose weight, exercise has a positive effect on inflammation in the body, insulin sensitivity, harmful visceral, or belly fat, and cholesterol. Improvements in each of those areas lead to better overall health and fewer risk factors.

So even if you’re packing a few extra pounds, try not to lose hope or obsess about your weight. You can still be generally healthy as long as you maintain an active lifestyle and eat a balanced diet. Get in your exercise by regularly hitting the court.

My daughter is 14 years old and plays competitive tennis. We are vegetarians and do not eat meat or fish (eggs are OK but not preferred). We do eat different kinds of legumes, beans, vegetables and fruits as part of our daily diet. What is the best source of protein for my daughter on a daily basis and also on match days? Thanks and Regards.—Sundara Vardhan

This is a great question, especially since it’s been reported that vegetarianism among adolescents seems to be on the rise. If you’re looking for the single best source of protein for a vegetarian, then Lisa Dorfman, director of sports nutrition and performance at the University of Miami and author of the Vegetarian Sports Nutrition Guide, has one word for you: soy.

“When you’re a vegetarian, you have to look for alternative sources of protein that have all the essential parts of protein, including amino acids,” Dorfman says. “All animal proteins have all the amino acids. Plant-based proteins don’t, except for soy.” So when you can, opt for soy protein (there's tons of soy on the market now, from soy milk to cheese to vegetarian products from brands like Yves, Gimme Lean and Primal Sticks) to make sure you're getting all the essentials to build your muscles and help you recover after workouts. Dorfman also recommends lean sources of protein, like beans, lentils and low-fat dairy products, over higher fat options, like cheese and eggs.

No matter how you get your protein, the most important time to make sure you're eating enough of it is during training. “In a way, training is a lot harder on the body than game day because you’re doing a lot of different things, from strength training to footwork,” she says. Depending on your weight, Dorfman recommends eating 50–60 grams of protein a day during training, and cutting back in the 48 hours before competition to 30–40 grams a day so you’ll have extra room for carbs.

Here are her recommendations for a sample training day, along with lots of water:

Breakfast: Egg Beaters with toast

Lunch: Subway veggie sub

Snack: protein bar or shake

Dinner: pasta with vegetarian meatballs

At match point in a hard-fought second-round U.S. Open contest between German Sabine Lisicki and Australian Anastasia Rodionova, Rodionova ran Lisicki out wide. Lisicki got to the ball, hit a defensive forehand slice, and fell to the court. Rodionova returned the ball to win the match 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, but Lisicki stayed down, crying out in pain and disappointment before eventually being taken off the court in a wheelchair (click here for a link to a video of the point). She had rolled her left ankle, ending the point, her bid at the 2009 U.S. Open, and probably competition for her in general until the injury heals.

While tennis isn’t a sport like hockey or football, where players really beat each other up, that doesn’t mean it isn’t high impact. Pounding on the court, quick starts and stops, the heightened stress of matches, it all takes a huge toll on the body. And there’s no better place to learn this than the interview rooms at the last Slam of the year, the U.S. Open. The pros have spent nine months pushing their bodies to the limit, and in those rooms, player after player is grilled by the press about this strain or that sprain in the thigh, ankle, foot, abdomen, shoulder, you name it.

Most of them keep their mouths shut. Venus Williams responded to questions about an injury in her left knee by saying, “Oh, you know, I don’t talk about my injuries very much. I think everyone knows that now. I don’t dwell on them. I just do my best.”

There are pretty good reasons for this zipped-lip policy. First, complaints of injury can tip off competition that a player’s movement might be off or to hit to a particular wing. Second, if a player complains of an injury, it’s often seen as an excuse for bad performance and a knock against an opponent’s rightful win.

The only thing that’s probably more frustrating than answering the press’ questions about injuries (though, in our defense, we have to ask them—the physical capabilities of the body are a huge part of sports), is dealing with the injuries themselves. Professional athletes’ bodies are their breadwinners, so the uncertainty of injury can be exasperating. Just ask Maria Sharapova, who returned this year after a nine-month injury time-out. Last August, an MRI revealed that she had small tears in her right rotator cuff. It was an injury she had been dealing with all year, and that had gone undiagnosed the previous April in another MRI scan. She stopped competing and tried to rehab the shoulder, and after that didn’t work, she underwent surgery last October and didn’t return to the tour until May. The road to recovery can be long, indeed.

You couldn’t help but feel for Lisicki, writhing in pain and disappointment with her face in her hands as trainers surrounded her and stands full of spectators looked on. A lot of things were probably running through her head. After sitting through interviews where pros field questions about the state of their bodies and their injuries old and new, I can only imagine one of those questions was, How long will this one take to come back from? For Lisicki’s sake, hopefully not long.

Nine-year-old Lauren Harvey has been playing tennis since she was 4. She recently started playing in her first USTA junior tournaments, and she religiously checks her USTA ranking online each week. This weekend, she’s playing in a tournament at her home club, The Greens in Oklahoma City. But it’s not just any tournament, and tennis is more than just a childhood obsession for her. The tournament is to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and since Lauren has cystic fibrosis, playing tennis is helping to keep her healthy.

A genetic disease that changes the way secretions happen in the body, CF causes mucus to thicken and clog wherever it is in the body. For the lungs, that can mean clogged airways, which can lead to breathing difficulties and infection. Aerobic activity helps clear the lungs, so it’s absolutely necessary that those with cystic fibrosis lead active lifestyles.

“What happens is gradually over time you lose functioning in the lungs,” says Dr. Mark Harvey, M.D., father to Lauren and her brother, Will, 13, who also has CF and also plays tennis, though mostly as a way to stay in condition for his favorite sport, auto racing. “The goal is to make that happen as slowly as possible.”

What’s more, Harvey told me as he drove his daughter home, aerobic activity helps condition the entire body, which is extremely important when you have a chronic disease. “People who are better conditioned live longer lives with better quality,” he says. “If they get an infection, the better condition they’re in, the better they’ll be able to deal with it.”

In 1955, when the CF Foundation was founded, children with the disease weren’t expected to live through elementary school. But after strides in treatments and therapies, the median survival age today is 37. Dr. Harvey says there have been some major research developments recently, and he’s most excited about trials on therapies to correct the functioning of the defective protein created by the abnormal gene that causes CF. “There’s a good chance that those people who are alive right now with CF may have the chance to have normal life spans,” Harvey says.

The junior tournament this weekend, in its first year, is the latest of many CF fundraising activities for the Harvey family. They do a golf tournament that raised $200,000 this year, the Great Strides nationwide walk, galas to raise funds and an adult tennis tournament at The Greens in February that raised $15,000 this year.

Another reason Harvey and his wife, Diane, encourage their kids to be active? “When you’re dealing with chronic illness, staying active and engaged and thinking about the future is important,” he says. “Like with tennis, positive self-talk, visualizing success and goal making, those are the same things that are important.”

Let’s hope Lauren takes that positive attitude and determination to the court this weekend. 

Attention tennis elbow sufferers: Could a short, twisty rubber bar be the solution to your painful elbow problems? That’s what a recent trial concluded. In an uncompleted study, two groups of tennis elbow victims, one doing exercises with dumbbells and the other using a rubber bar, were compared. The results were so drastically different, with the rubber bar group coming out ahead, that the study was aborted so everyone could use the rubber bar.

So what is this magical tool, you ask, and what does it do? It’s a Thera-Band Flexbar hand exerciser, which you can twist and bend. According to Tim Tyler, a clinical research associate at Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, who headed the study, it allows you to do “isolated eccentric” exercises, meaning that it provides resistance while the muscles lengthen. When I spoke to him, he likened the exercise to lowering the barbell while doing a chest press: As you slowly lower, you have to work to control the resistance of the weight, so your muscles lengthen as they contract. Here’s a link to a video of the exercise with the rubber bar.

Wouldn’t it be nice if this simple exercise was the answer? Since the study wasn’t completed, there isn't hard data to cite. But given the fact that many of the other solutions, things like cortisone shots, platelet replacement therapy, and surgery, are much more invasive, this at-home exercise might be worth a try. Tyler recommends three sets of 15 repetitions twice a day, though only after you’ve gotten the OK from your doctor or physical therapist.

I’ve recently started to have knee pain after playing tennis. Are there any type of exercises to strengthen the knees? Second question, do you have any suggestions to improve mobility on the tennis court? I always seem to come to the ball late and never make a good shot.—T. Nguyen

Knee problems are hugely common in a pounding sport like tennis. But that doesn’t meet that you can’t avoid it. An answer to both of these problems might be increased flexibility. Often times, knee pain comes when the tendons in your legs are too tight and rigid to withstand the stress you put on them with quick starts, stops and changes of direction in tennis. So to keep your knees ready to hit the court, warm up properly each time you play, doing a 5–10-minute jog followed by dynamic stretches. After you play, make sure to cool down properly with more dynamic stretches or some static stretches. Another great way to loosen up tight tendons and bands is to use a foam roller to massage your legs (learn how from Victoria Azarenka). But depending on the severity of the pain, it might be something more serious than tight tendons and bands, so you should have your knees checked out by a doctor.

Another important factor to avoiding knee pain is, as you mention, building strength. You asked for exercises to strengthen the knees, but what’s really important is strengthening the muscles around the knees. When your quadriceps, hamstrings and calf muscles are strong, they offer support and keep the knee joint stable. Go here for a TENNIS article on knee health that includes strength exercises and a good stretch for flexibility.

As for mobility on court, you have it right that arriving at the ball in time to get in position is key to hitting consistent strokes. In addition to helping keep you be pain-free, flexibility also plays an important part in your movement. If you keep your muscles limber with regular stretching, both dynamic and static, your body will be more prepared to get moving. Other things factor in as well, like maintaining the proper weight (a few extra pounds can weigh you down on court) and leg strength (which can be increased with strength training and footwork drills). Check out the Health & Fitness section of the upcoming November/December issue of TENNIS for a flexibility workout geared toward improving movement around the court.