Q. Do you have any recommendations on preparations for and what to do during match play if you have a cold or other "under the weather" illness?
A. Believe it or not, players usually do fine when they are a little “under the weather.” I do not mean sick- which is a whole different category- but just a little off (maybe a cold or a sore throat, for example). Why is this? I’m not sure. My best Gladwellian guess would be that knowing that you are not feeling physically ideal puts your mind at ease. It provides a built-in excuse. From there, players can just relax and let it flow out there. Weird.
Make sure to take care of yourself afterwards. Bouncing back quickly after matches when you are/were a little ill is obviously more challenging.