So Rafael Nadal has withdrawn injured from a Grand Slam tournament - again. Andy Murray marches on to the final, relatively injury free.this isn't the first time that the trainers and physios have had an impact on the outcome of an important match, this report from last year's U.S. Open:
"INJURY DAY: Juan Martin del Potro ran into a wall. Gilles Simon tweaked his knee. Jose Acasuso had "left knee pain." And when Rafael Nadal flopped to the ground to receive treatment on his abs, his opponent, Nicolas Almagro, figured he'd call the trainer, too. Injuries ran rampant at the U.S. Open on Sunday. None appeared to be too serious.
Simon and Acasuso each retired from their matches while trailing. Del Potro was fine _ just a little flesh wound _ while Nadal, who missed Wimbledon with bad knees, said he was getting sick and tired of talking about injuries, but that the strained abs that have been bothering him since last month won't keep him out.
"I saw Rafa call, so I prefer to call at the same time," Almagro said of the dueling injury timeouts in Ashe Stadium.
Trainers came out and worked on his back and 20,000 fans got to watch both tennis players laying on the ground, getting massages.
What a difference a rubdown makes?
"My tennis was the same, before the trainer, after the trainer," Almagro said. "
This year's Australian open also showed that the 5 set epics such as this one: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100120/sp_afp/tennisopenausdelpotro can also be decided by the trainer.
Potential causes of this could be:
- poor scheduling of the tournaments
- players playing when already injured due to financial pressures
- tournament sponsors wanting their pound of flesh with big names having to attend
- poor conditioning- lack of foundation training from an early age
- gamesmanship- the opportunity to halt momentum and refocus mentally
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1 comments:
Interesting post. Everyone is always going on about how muscular he (Nadal)is, good for swooning fans and sponsorship but in the long run does that muscle mass help or hurt his tennis game? ( I can’t see how huge biceps, obviously trained in isolation, help his tennis game) maybe carrying all the extra weight is hurting now?
Maybe its down to sponsorship deals and obligations to play so much? It does seem like there are more tour events now than back in day? or maybe it is over training? or even vanity....?
Its the same here with NFL football (or Beckham). Look at some of those physiques, they have been trained to "look good' not just to excel on field...all for sponsorship and modeling contracts? Its shame but there is more money in endorsements than there is in pro sports for most "stars'.
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