By Bryan Virasami (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-11-14 09:05

SHANGHAI - If Andy Roddick develops some tightness in his serving arm during the course of the Masters Cup, he may find himself in the hands of Joanna Brimelow and her small team of massage therapists who specialize in rubbing out muscle tension, relieving back pain and providing soothing massages.

Linda Yu gives treatment to a weary tennis player during the Masters Cup in Shanghai. [China Daily]

This entire week Brimelow is camped out at Qi Zhong Stadium in Shanghai where she's focused on locating and eliminating strains, pains and tight spots on the bodies of the world's top tennis players, any time of the day.

While some of the world's top eight singles players often travel to games with their own personal therapists, Brimelow says many of them (including many doubles players) have already spent time this week on her massage beds, which are conveniently located inside the belly of the stadium.

Brimelow, who was born in Beijing and lives in Switzerland, often lends her services to major tennis tournaments in China and around the world. She brought two other highly trained professionals to the Masters this year to provide massages and acupuncture therapy to the players.

"They have a warming-up massage before the match and afterwards, they like to have a relaxation massage," Brimelow said on Monday. She said players usually seek pain relief on their thighs, hips, arms and lower backs after matches.

In some cases, players suffering game-related pain may require quick relief, so they opt for acupuncture, the 2,000-year-old Chinese technique of inserting hair-thin needles into specific points of the body to promote healing.

"They need to recover very quickly and it works," she said proudly. "Acupuncture is usually done on the elbow, wrist or lower back - all pressure points for tennis players."

After spending several years studying traditional Chinese medicine and massage therapy with a specialty in sports injuries, she got involved in tennis tournaments.

"Some players become friends. We see them every year, they're glad to see us," she said about her work at tennis events. "I quite enjoy it, it's kind of a fun job. All those boys, they're quite nice. Some of them are quite funny."

Masseuses at the Masters must be skilled and well versed in the techniques required to work on athletes wary of risking injury by untrained hands.

"They have to be well trained on the muscle and how much pressure to use, especially if players are injured," Brimelow said.

Linda Yu, who has been a masseuse for 10 years and currently works at the Hyatt on the Bund, said she is thrilled to play a small role in helping the athletes do their best this week.

"Sometimes we give them new energy," she said.