posted May 10, 2008

Reredef, an honourable reason. Thanks for clarifying.

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posted May 10, 2008

my comment about roddick's injury was deleted

what the is that all about ?!

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posted May 10, 2008

I think Roddick's injury may have got the best of him - looks as if he has withdrawn from Hamburg no longer listed on the official website as playing

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posted May 10, 2008

a-rod has done commendably well to reach the semis on clay.

well done.one of the good guys and funny too.

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posted May 10, 2008

Andy Roddick had a great chance to win his first MS on clay. He played well on his least favorite surface to reach Semi final. Nadal or Davydenko weren't on his way. He was also able to defeat Wawrinka to reach final. Unfortunately that injury took away Roddick's chance to win this tournament. I dont think that Roddick is going to have such a great chance again on clay in such a big tournament.

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posted May 10, 2008

When Djokovic, who was on the WINNING side of a retirement, is complaining about the schedule, maybe it's time to think about dropping a few events.

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posted May 11, 2008

Deb I don't know where you've been, but I have been part time spending a number of years as a physio on the European tennis circuit. We are seeing shoulder injuries up 200%, wrist injuries up 150% and it has nothing whatsoever to do with the last few weeks and the Yank's bball schedule. As far as that goes, sponsors willing to pay the money get what they want. If Rafa was so offended some of his Spanish sponsors just had to get some money and put their money where his mouth is and change the schedule. Money talks, the rest just whine. Ever look at the hard court major schedule just before Miami. Same heavy week after week grind, did you hear anyone complaining? The problem is the overly heavy balls, high bouncing too slow courts/balls cause unnatural high shoulder movement and extremely cocked full western grips as a result. Try hitting a tennis ball with a forehand at shoulder height, it just is not natural. And indeed far too many tournaments the entire season with insufficient rest breaks. BTW, how many tourneys jammed in the three weeks before SW19? - same deal as we are seeing now prepping for RG. I have a few top 5 European juniors with rep. stress shoulder injuries, that I would have expected to see in a 28-32 season tennis pro ten years ago. Its both the current game and the schedule.

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posted May 11, 2008

Andys pulled outta Hamburg - its up on his website

He's going back to the States to get it treated - hope its not serious

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posted May 12, 2008

Nobody is obliged to play in every tournament. To get ranking points you have to enter tournaments, obviously, but you have to be fit enough to play the matches! The ATP can offer many chances to play, but each player determines his/her own schedule, and if they knacker themselves with overwork, more fool them.

Perhaps a full tournament schedule will favour those players who don’t rely on an absurdly fast service which wrenches their shoulder, back, hips and feet. Good job - endless 150mph services are boring. Tennis used to have things called “rallies”, in which both players hit the ball during the same point.

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posted May 14, 2008

PortoBelloDutch,

Apologies for the tardy response, I've only just seen your reply to me.

I agree that there is an overall problem with the schedule. I've actually posted somewhere else how tough the hardcourt swing is and the lead up to it. RG being right on top of the miniscule grass season has always been a bug bear of mine. This year is obviously particularly bad because of the Olympics.

In my opinion however, that doesn't make it right to make it even harder for the players by cramming the schedule even more to accommodate coverage of Basketball, which they did. I'll find the news articles if you're not happy with my word.

You think that it should be the responsiblity of the players or their sponsors to deal with the TV coverage? Do you even think that it would be accepted with its obvious temptation to be biased towards certain players as part of any deal made? (Real world?!) Shouldn't the ATP be representing their best interests? (..and lets face it the ATPs own interest in keeping them fit and well).

Finally, you say about the heavy grind before Miami, and did I ever hear anyone else complaining? Well, I think the unprecedented signing of a petition by 17 of the world's top 20 asking that other candidates be considered before ATP executive chairman and president Etienne de Villiers when his contract comes up for renewal in December may be taken as a complaint. What do you think?

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