Tennis players and empty tank syndrome

Not one voice has been raised. Before disembarking at the US Open, the number one in the world, Iga Swiatek, expressed what many tennis players have felt for a long time. An exhaustion that is pronounced more and more. “The truth is that I feel that my energy tank is quite empty. I need a little rest before going to New York. If the tournaments are longer and longer, we have less time to recover. I think next year is going to be pretty extreme if all the Masters 1,000 last two weeks. So I don’t think the withdrawals are a coincidence. I think it is a signal for the WTA and the ATP to take it easy,” denounced the Pole, who competes in this final stretch of the year with her tongue hanging out. Like the vast majority.

Tennis is exhausted and the players, stuck in that “hamster wheel” that the Russian Daria Kasatkina described during the spring, melted down. Injuries multiply both due to the annual physical erosion and the mental stress of having to compete no matter what. To the operating system, which is already demanding, is added the claim of the different organizations to want to squeeze the goose that lays the golden eggs ad nauseam: more and longer tournaments, with untimely hours and no margin for recovery between competitions. and another. An infernal calendar that, far from solving the problem, increases it. It seems to matter little, many professionals lament, as long as the cash register remains at full capacity.

“We players have been talking about this for a long time. Preseasons practically no longer exist; You have seven or ten days off and then three weeks to prepare for the next year. Now I have missed two Masters 1000, but either you stop or there is no way to last the entire season,” explains Roberto Carballes to this newspaper, who is joined by Alejandro Davidovich, summoned in the third round with the local Tommy Paul. “Yes, there may be a few too many tournaments. The calendar is crazy, because if you have Davis you end up in December, so you don’t have time on vacation or to prepare well for the following season”, adds the Andalusian, who arrived at the New York tournament between cotton pads due to recurring back problems from those that are not fully recovered. No, because there is no margin.

This year, the men’s tour program (ATP) gives players just 26 days off between tournaments and officially concludes on December 2; in fact, she was born on December 29, 2022. In the case of the women’s tournament (WTA), the players have only four more days of respite. The transition that existed at the time between one course and another has disappeared. With the exception of the figures, who in principle have greater margin to select, the majority are subject to the tyranny of the ranking –defend the points obtained the previous year, then play constantly– and also to the night schedules and the improvisation, in many cases, of the playing orders.

The ‘Grand Slam format’

The Scot Andy Murray, a guy without mincing words, was clear a few days ago: “I think in general it is not good for anyone. Obviously, when players complain about something, people tell us to shut up or tell us to go to work at a warehouse from nine to five. I understand. I know I’m lucky to play tennis, but playing at four in the morning I don’t think it helps the sport much, when you know that everyone is leaving because they have to take public transport home and you end a match with 10% of the capacity. As for us, you can’t expect anyone to recover if you finish at dawn.”

For some time here, the calendar has been adding more and more competitions and expanding. And, as if that were not enough, the Masters 1000 – second category after the majors – are doubling their length – from one to two weeks – and acquiring the format of the four Grand Slams to multiply income.

“You can’t expect to play from January to November, and so on from year to year. It’s very complicated. I don’t know what the solution is, but most of us go to the limit. I think the system [ranking] tennis is the most demanding in the world, because at all times you have the fear that if you don’t play and defend the points, you will fall, and that forces you to continue and continue. In the end, you enter the wheel and the body suffers,” adds Carballes. “In the end, the best thing is not to think. Either you are very good, or players like me have to continue to score points”, continues Davidovich, who adds: “Many injuries are mental, due to stress and all the tension that everyday life entails. You have to try to find balance, but tennis is very screwed up; If you stop playing for a couple of weeks, you lose your rhythm. “It’s not like football.”

Despite the complaints, the establishment turns a deaf ear. Hence Swiatek’s call for help: “In the second part of the season, you feel like you’ve already played too much.” But the number one found a reply in Martina Navratilova. “I understand the stress. But normally I played two or three tournaments between Wimbledon and the US Open, and I felt tired after the US Open, not before. If you are so mentally tired, don’t play. You have to be strong or simply take some time off. “I didn’t allow myself to do it,” says the American, of Czech origin, while the players’ physiques continue to suffer and the cash register of this sport continues to bill.

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