Quick Links
|
| Recent News...
|
|
 |
| See Also...
|
|
| |
|
|
| Rankings |
|
|
 |
|
|
Tennis Injuries: Players, Fans Suffer While Tours WinView Comments (18) | View Discussions
Posted on January 6, 2006
By Richard Vach, Tennis-X.com Senior Writer
Newly-announced injuries to Andre Agassi, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova indicate another injury-riddled year in pro tennis -- but do tours, fans care?
When it comes to packing the calendar with three tournaments a week in locations such as Chennai, Sopot and Rabat, pressuring top players to participate in more events or displaying an inane sense or sports marketing that consistently fails to produce, the men's and women's pro tours are "on the ball," as it were.
But when it comes to its roles as caretakers of tennis, the ATP and WTA tours have dropped the ball. Big Time.
The WTA Tour has been decimated by injuries over the last three years, with CEO Larry Scott calling the rash of injuries "flukes" in both 2004 and 2005. It remains to be seen whether 2006 continues the women's trend, but all signs point toward "yes," with over half the top players coming off injuries at the end of 2005. In fact last year's WTA Championships featured only one of the four Grand Slam winners due to injuries sidelining the other three.
Perhaps due to the resiliency of the "stronger sex," the men are only beginning to feel the brunt of the injuries brought on by the most likely culprit, racquet technology. At 2005's year-ending Masters Cup, over half the field pulled out with injuries, including stars Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal and Marat Safin.
Other sports over the years have been proactive in halting technology's progress to maintain the integrity of their respective institutions: Major League Baseball outlawed aluminum and other "super bats," the PGA golf tour outlawed the square-groove clubs that suddenly gave players access to super spin and improved accuracy, etc.
Other sports have seen the value of keeping the challenge in the game. Athletes get bigger and stronger, but the tools remain the same.
In pro tennis, other that restricting the size of racquets, pretty much anything goes for racquet manufacturers such as Wilson, Head, Babolat, and Prince that each year (or more like each month) come out with a new line of super racquets for recreational players and pros alike.
Andre Agassi, after pulling out of the Masters Cup in November, mentioned the "ballistic" movements players are nowadays forced to make in response to balls launched off the super racquets. Tennis' upper is no longer relegated to those with the perfect timing of footwork, shoulder turn and forward step, since now virtually anyone 12-year-old and up can launch a ferocious forehand winner off their back foot from anywhere on the court due to the marvels of today's unchecked racquet technology.
But the price for the video-game-style ball bashing that has come into vogue over the last 10-15 years has been steep: an increase in turned ankles, bad knees, shoulder and hip surgeries, and last year on the women's tour a number of henceforth-unseen pectoral injuries.
Pete Sampras and Jim Courier used to crush the forehand with a Wilson Pro Staff (classic). Not the most powerful of racquets, but their preparation and technique allowed them power in an era where not everyone had the killer forehand. Nowadays on tour, if you can't hit a forehand winner from anywhere on the court, you need to pick up Wilson's new catalogue, or find the "C" button on your game remote (some racquets now even come with embedded microchips).
Racquet manufacturers pour money into professional tennis, which has made both tours hesitant to enact any kind of constraints on super-racquet technology. On the contrary, many pundits have lauded the increased power from the racquets on the WTA Tour that ushered women's tennis out of the moonball era.
Entering the January 2006 Australian Open, the current state of health of pro tennis is on display following the recent "off season:"
Maria Sharapova -- Looks bad for the cell-phone mannequin's participation in Melbourne as she flies back to the U.S. this week to receive treatment for her pectoral muscle/shoulder problem. You'd have more compassion for the Russian not knowing that she spent her off-season collecting upwards of $1 million for an exhibition tour in Asia rather than resting the bruised wing that has troubled her since last year.
Andre Agassi -- Has pulled from the Aussie Open with the bad ankle that also forced him to withdraw after his first match in the November Masters Cup. His recuperation plan this past December, which including playing exhibitions, apparently didn't help.
Rafael Nadal -- The shouts of "Vamos!" and the muscle-posed arm after points will likely be missing in Melbourne after the No. 2-ranked Spaniard has pulled from both of the ATP events he planned to use as warm-ups for the Australian Open. Rumors of a simply ankle turn possible being a more serious foot fracture last year seem to be unfortunately panning out.
Marat Safin -- A knee injury shrouded in surgery/no-surgery secrecy since last year will likely keep the big Russian, who has not played since last year's U.S. summer hardcourt season, out until at least after Melbourne.
Venus Williams -- Injured herself anew this week at the exhibition in Hong Kong, now suffering pain in her left hip.
Jelena Dokic -- After going 0-1 in her debut as a return Australian citizen earlier this week, the despondent former Top 5-er has now canned her coach, fled the country with her boyfriend of dubious affluence, and has pulled from next week's WTA event in Canberra citing an injury to her left abductor.
Thomas Johansson -- Shoulder injury.
And the recovering/walking wounded:
Roger Federer -- Still playing with an ankle brace after turning his foot while practicing late last year for the Masters Cup (where he still reached the final on the injured stump).
Andy Roddick -- How is that back injury that kept him out of the Masters Cup?
Lleyton Hewitt -- Appears healthy after sitting out the end of last season with groin and foot injuries, and waiting for the birth of his first child.
Serena Williams -- Judging from her poor start at the Hong Kong exhibition this week, the younger Williams sister, who was out much of 2005 with knee and ankle injuries, is still far from 100 percent.
Lindsay Davenport -- Looking fit at 30 years of age, but had her share of back problems that caused her to miss events in 2005. The American still put in the most court time of the wounded upper echelon last year and finishing the year No. 1.
Justine Henin-Hardenne -- The Belgian's year was essentially done in 2005 after winning the French Open but sustaining leg, back and tendonitis problems.
Mary Pierce -- Easier to pinpoint when the French veteran is uninjured than list the various maladies and time on the sidelines...
Ana Ivanovic -- Haven't heard of the upstart Serb with model looks that crashed the Top 20 last year? You may not get the chance, with the teen currently seeing off a few niggling injuries after last year battling the Sharapova-like pectoral (chest) muscle pull.
Australian Open organizer Paul McNamee knows every year features a few no-shows, but is not optimistic concerning the large number of "maybes" heading into Melbourne in 2006.
"I've spoken with (Nadal's) management and they say it's 50-50 for the Australian Open," McNamee said. "I'm not optimistic now. I think he might miss. 50-50's not a great stat really in my experience. There's no word on Marat Safin, but I have significant doubts. I'd say he's definitely in doubt, but there's no word yet. And Maria Sharapova also had injury problems at the end of the year, so they're not players with fresh injuries."
Fresh or not, injuries have now become the determining factor in pro tennis -- to the point of deciding who finishes No. 1. On the women's side in 2005 you had five or six players in the race for the year-end No. 1, but the Slam-less Davenport finished in the top spot, edging Kim Clijsters because the Belgian missed the first couple months of the season with a wrist injury. On the men's side in 2005, with a few months remaining, the No. 2-ranked Nadal had a slim chance to catch the front-running Federer but the drama dissipated after the ankle injury.
If half the top women being out of action, and six of last year's eight Masters Cup qualifiers pulling out of the event isn't enough for the ATP/WTA to take action regarding this modern-day rash of player injuries, you have to wonder what would make them act.
Whether it's a longer off-season or curbing the use of super racquets, addressing the ever-increasing injury issue is apparently of no interest to the ATP or WTA as long as their coffers are being filled with sponsor cash, a few marquee names manage to limp through an event, and fans put up with the player(s) advertised on billboards and tournament program covers not showing up. After six of the eight players pulled from the Masters Cup, the Shanghai organizers, who spent upwards of $200 million on the event, requested the ATP look into the injury issue. Two months later, still no word.
Coming around to look at it from the tour's point of view -- something is probably wrong here, and there are a significant amount of injuries, but if the players and fans put up with it -- why change anything?
Richard Vach is a senior writer for Tennis-X.com.
View Comments (18) | View Discussions
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
