Milos Raonic Ends 2017 Season

I think Raonic knows that Tommy Haas is nearing retirement, and he’s angling to become the next president of the injury club. Nishikori is in the running for the position too.

All joking aside, it’s been a tough year for Milos and hopefully he won’t have to sit out so much next year.

October 18th, 2017 at 11:36 am

Not surprised ….

October 18th, 2017 at 1:09 pm

So many out injured. The ATP tour needs rethinking.

October 18th, 2017 at 3:08 pm

Actually I think is due to top players getting older and playing at a high level after 27-28.

Most of the injured ones are the ones close to thrity than the young ones.

I believe this trend will continue next years. And some think age makes no difference at all in tennis.

– Raonic will turn 27 this December
– Kei will turn 28 this december
– Wawa is 32, tunrs 33 on March
– Djoko turn 31 May
– Murray turns 31 May

Fedal where sideliend last year at 30+ for Nadal and 35+ for Roger.

October 18th, 2017 at 3:32 pm

Daniel, I agree. This is what Fed also said.

I think also, right now, Federer’s has led to a bit of a rethink on the value of time off vs value of being on tour for quality of play. Before 2017, the common wisdom was always that comebacks take time, because you can’t replicate the fitness, mental toughness, and difficulty level of match play. Federer showed that you could not only come back to a high level of play, immediately, with a healthy body and opportunity for off-court fitness and practice, (as Rafa did as well), but Federer came back at a higher level than he’d had for years.

It seems like this has encouraged a few players to take more long breaks, trusting that it will pay off.

October 18th, 2017 at 4:04 pm

RZ: Agree – was going to say something similar. Think Kei is the current President of the “Stricken Club”.

Daniel: What you posted applies to some degree but it doesn’t explain Kyrios, Tomic, Sasha and a few others in the younger age group.

October 19th, 2017 at 4:18 am

http://www.tennisexplorer.com/list-players/injured/
I’ll concede players over 30 probably are more prone to injuries and need more time to recover, but it’s not just them.
Naughty Nick and Preppy Dom, to name but two, are frequently injured, and Kei and Milos are a bit off 30.
The tour is a grind IMnotsoHO.

October 19th, 2017 at 9:42 am

Make the courts even slower, and you will see even more of this. Make Defense more rewarding than offense for much of the season, this is the outcome of doing that over the last 10-15 years.

If they make the tour balanced – with several tournaments with court speeds like Shanghai – to balance the clay season – you will see fewer injuries, fewer mindless rallies, shorter matches, and players getting injured less. And I am not talking about the “serve and done” tennis between Sampras and Ivanisevic – that is not good either. But what we have today is pathetic. Majority of the tournaments are played on slow courts where defensive grinding is more successful than offensive shotmaking.

October 19th, 2017 at 10:21 am

^Well said and totally agree.

October 19th, 2017 at 10:28 am

Oh yessss, anything to make life easier for fed, the rest be hanged!
Pack it in for goodness sake!

October 19th, 2017 at 10:31 am

In fairness to James, I don’t think he’s saying make all the courts a “Fed Fit.” Rather he’s requesting more variety of surface.
I’m no expert and I really don’t know what the ratio of fast to slow is, but it does seem as if the courts are slower these days. Happy to be proved wrong or right!

October 19th, 2017 at 11:10 am

Yes Margot, exactly right. James’ insight was based on injuries, not what surface benefits who’s performance.

October 19th, 2017 at 11:41 am

“ mindless rallies”? Lol. Now I’ve heard it all!

October 19th, 2017 at 11:54 am

JK, Margot,

I think another aspect is their physical complexion.
All the other young ones with some injurys at a young age are tall, above 1,93 m (6’4″ or more), some getting close to 2,00 meters. They will always be more prone to injuries. Sasha, Nick, tomic, DelPo, Cilic and others.

The ideal tall range is preciselly the Big 4 groups: 1,85 m to 1,90, 75 to 85 kg.

For example, Thiem so far hasn´t have major injuries, he just gasses out because h ahs the worst scheudling on tour. He is the right tall and not too buffed.

October 19th, 2017 at 12:00 pm

And James is also right, the court slowed and string technology combined to make the poijts longer and more gruelling. Tennis become a very physcial sport and players body will break down regularly.

Almost all other sports have longer off seaosn, so we’ll see more and more the Fedal extend breaks used by several top players. This year is already the case: Djoko, Wawa, Murray, Kei, Raonic. They all will tey to regroup and not be as afraid as in the past when some players took a sabatical only to never recover top form.

Off course not everybody is Fedal, but they proved it can be done. Add an smart scheduling also.

October 19th, 2017 at 12:46 pm

Thiem is the new “Ferrer” and tries hard, often too hard – lacks the magic. Cilic & Del Potro are “older” generation ….and Del Potro’s early problems will always handicap him to some extent…he will never be No.1 despite being a major challenge every now and then.

Means we need to keep the traditional top 5 for as long as possible.

October 19th, 2017 at 4:06 pm

The over 30 crowd’s injuries are understandable. Consider that Andy, Nole, and Stan are all out for the rest of the year. But outside of Andy’s back surgery and I think a prior issue for Stan, none of these guys had constant injuries. It’s different for Milos, Kei, and Nick. These guys are constantly withdrawing from tournaments or retiring from matches. I don’t know if it’s a case of scheduling, playing style, training, or just bad luck. I do think in the past that Milos and Nick have played when they probably should have sat out longer. I’ve also thought there have been times that Rafa has overplayed in past years, which didn’t help his injury issues. But he has taken the time he’s needed to recover.

I don’t recall Thiem having any major issues outside of fatigue, which, as Daniel has mentioned, is due to overexertion from a too full schedule. But as the head of Team Thiem on Tennis-X, I think he will snag a French Open title or two. I can see where the Ferrer comparison comes from, but I think Thiem has already achieved more than Ferrer had done at the same age. The guy turned 24 just last month and is headed to his 2nd WTF, and has now been in/around the top 10 for almost 2 years. Ferrer didn’t make the top 10 until he was around 24 and didn’t become a top 10 mainstay until he was around 25.

October 19th, 2017 at 4:33 pm

RZ: Sorri – I agree with you on a lot of issues but Thiem doesn’t rock the boat – he stands on the shore and eventually falls in the water. Not personal by any means, don’t dislike him – just see him as a good solid player, likeable as a decent young man but not anyone to get the pulses racing on Court.

As for Andy – thought he also had heavy health issues 2015 and nearly killed himself late in the season to qualify for the O2 – where Roger demolished him….(and a famous story went on from there, i.e. Roger withdrawing etc. etc.).

All said and done – respect your opinion.

October 19th, 2017 at 7:09 pm

I think Thiem lacks the “magic” of Ferrer. Ferrer was
absolutely rock solid and never seemed to get fatigued (till recently). I don’t get that from Thiem. He is a poor man’s Ferrer.

October 19th, 2017 at 8:56 pm

^great tennis knowledge. Such unique insight to the magic of a tennis player.

October 19th, 2017 at 9:42 pm

skeezer, Glad you appreciate my tennis knowledge. By the way, I heard something weird, that you are posting on the Grandstand as hawkeye. hawkeye is supposed to be a Nadal fan. But that’s not what is weird because apparently on that site you can say Federer is the GOAT or Nadal is one dimensional and still be accepted as a Nadal fan. What is weird is that you accused me of being hawkeye (which I thought at first was the line calling machine). So if you are hawkeye, why would you do that? Unless, of course, you think I am you?

October 20th, 2017 at 12:50 am

So here’s an imaginary interview:
Interviewer: So skeezer, you are hawkeye?
skeezer: That’s right.
Interviewer: But you said t4t is hawkeye. Does that mean you are t4t?
skeezer: I am afraid so. That is why I try to avoid responding to t4t’s posts. I don’t want people to catch me arguing with myself.
Interviewer ( nodding): That is wise. You don’t want to spend your sunset years in a loony bin.

October 20th, 2017 at 12:54 am

I’m sorry. Did you say something?

October 20th, 2017 at 12:58 am

t4t. ROFL

October 20th, 2017 at 5:11 am

J-Kath – My opinion is sacred. How dare you disagree! Just kidding of course. There’d be no point to Tennis-X if we all agreed on everything, and I respect your opinion too. For Thiem, we’ve got the next few years to see what happens. For Andy in 2015, he did tire himself out getting to the 02, but I also think he was focused on winning Davis Cup so winning in London wasn’t a priority that year.

t4t – Ferrer is (or was until the last couple of years) rock solid and one of the fittest guys on tour. But he lacked the hustle on court that Thiem has. Thiem ends up on a lot of Hot Shot videos. I don’t recall Ferrer being in many (or any).

October 20th, 2017 at 10:57 am

Poor skeezer has a blank screen. Lol

October 20th, 2017 at 11:50 am

I fundamentally agree that slowing down of surfaces has led to more grueling matches and in turn more injuries. This being said, the French Open and the European clay court season is a grueling physical test that does not seem to lead to a lot of injuries. In fact, back in the day, there were quite a few tournaments other than slams that played 3 out of 5 sets (at least in the finals).

The problem is that the fast surfaces have become slow so players are on court hitting all for 40 weeks of the year. For the longest time the AO was played on grass. Now it’s played on a slow (debatable this year but usually a slow) hard court. Slow hard courts are probably the worst thing for the players. And yet there are so many of them. Something has to give.

October 20th, 2017 at 12:32 pm

It’s the player’s bodies that are giving way. The technology available now is also culpable in how the game has evolved. Hard to shorten points when you give these guys polyester strings and racquet technology NASA would be envious of.

October 20th, 2017 at 12:35 pm

Perhaps speeding up the ball would help.

October 20th, 2017 at 12:36 pm

Sergeant Roberts of Team Thiem reporting for duty, Colonel RZ Ma’am. Preppy Boy a “less good Ferrer!” Wot? Wot? Wot? Wotever you guys are smoking I want some. Dom is a fine thoroughbred, David is a wee work horse. So there!
Gorgeous Grig is playing well at the mo. On song so fabulous to watch, variety of shot making, movement, ROS, the real deal. Hope he gets a slam soon.

October 20th, 2017 at 12:38 pm

Sergeant Roberts, this Colonel is always glad to have you by her side when fighting the good fight!

October 20th, 2017 at 12:55 pm

Aye, aye Ma’am! :)

October 20th, 2017 at 2:40 pm

RZ: Reminds me of a book I read (first published – I think – a long time ago – I don’t even remember the title properly but it was something like “Dare Not Say The Name”) ….so I give in to the Leader of the Thiem-Team. As for “she who must be obeyed”, I’ll tickle her vanity and pretend to agree. PS: I noticed her subtle changing of text that changed what I said to something she preferred to believe I said.

Keep on dreaming gals.

October 20th, 2017 at 3:25 pm

J-Kath, if you remember the book title, let me know. I’m always looking for a good read. In the mean time, I’ll keep dreaming. :-)

October 20th, 2017 at 3:46 pm

BTW, I think my 2nd in command’s “less good Ferrer” was based on t4t calling Thiem a “poor man’s Ferrer”

October 20th, 2017 at 4:01 pm

^ Yes Ma’am! Surely was.

October 20th, 2017 at 4:34 pm

SG1: I suggest their coaches get them running on beaches – great for not-so-well horses and for dogs,especially big dogs with major back leg problems….

RZ: The book was also naughty so would need to post elsewhere and am not a fan of doing so. C’est la vie.

October 20th, 2017 at 6:25 pm