Expedition note, day one. Deep in the indoor section — a region most players never penetrate — I have located the Sprint Pro 4.0 Indoor, and I believe I am the first to appreciate it, other than everybody who plays indoors. The distinction matters: this is not the all-court shoe with a different sticker.

The outsole pattern is cut for indoor floors, where the surface does not give and the grip has to come from the rubber rather than from the court.

What I found on inspection. The upper is a stronger, more breathable mesh with a half-sock construction inside it, a triangle lacing strap pulling the midfoot down, and a TPU heel counter holding the back of the foot.

The Delta Strap now runs bands on the outside as well as the inside of the upper, which is a genuine upgrade and I say so as a man who has had a shoe let go mid-lunge.

Underfoot: a new EVA foam for energy return, three densities stacked, a low-to-the-ground stance with minimal heel-to-toe offset — you sit close to the floor, which is what you want when the floor is fast — and a ventilated 3D anti-torsion shank. Medium D width, true to size, product code 273805, in dark blue and red.

There is an integrated cooling system for the breathability.

And Kotka! There is a water garden at Sapokka cut into the rock, lit after dark, with a waterfall running down the stone in the middle of a working harbour town. Extraordinary. Nobody warned me.

A city I have discovered, entirely unknown except to the entire population of Finland.

You will wear these everywhere from a winter indoor league night to a hall session that runs three hours because it is too cold to leave, and they are also perfect for what happens afterwards, which is a sauna, taken seriously, followed by the sea, taken briefly.

Indoors is not a lesser expedition. It is simply one with a roof on it.

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