TENNIS MAY BE THE MOST DEMANDING SPORT OF THEM ALL

No matter how fit players may be, they are highly susceptible to all kinds of injuries. These ailments can strike at any time, disrupting the lives of outstanding competitors, depriving fans of witnessing their favorite personalities.

Aficionados cherish the resplendence of athletes who strike the ball impeccably, display supreme athleticism, and move from corner to corner with remarkable alacrity.

Watching top flight tennis is immensely pleasurable for me because the players thoroughly capture our imaginations by virtue of their court craft, shotmaking creativity and flexibility. Observing the best players in the world is endlessly fascinating and ever inspiring.

And yet, I worry about how rigorous tennis has become. In many ways, it is the most demanding sport of them all. In my view, the physicality in the game exceeds all others. In essence, it is a contact sport. The long rallies are exhausting. Changes in direction during points can be overwhelming and debilitating. Nearly every body part is tested to the hilt and the field of competition is fraught with danger.

A case in point is the recently contested “Sunshine Double” at Indian Wells and Miami. Those two Masters 1000 tournaments are right up there behind the U.S. Open among the most important American events on the calendar. But the redoubtable Rafael Nadal was not able to play in either of these illustrious hard court festivals as he recovered from his latest injury suffered during a second round Australian Open loss against Mackenzie McDonald.

Nadal suffered a hip flexor injury including a significant tear in his psoas muscle. His boosters would like him to be ready for the traditional opening of the European clay court season in Monte Carlo, but as this piece goes to press the precise timing of Nadal’s return to the ATP Tour is uncertain.

Meanwhile, Nadal’s countryman Carlos Alcaraz has endured more than his share of ailments since last November. He hurt himself at the Paris Masters 1000 tournament during a quarterfinal loss to Holger Rune, and that abdominal tear kept him out of the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin and Davis Cup as well. The Spaniard subsequently hurt his right leg while training for the Australian Open, missing the first major of 2023.

Back out on the ATP Tour after three months away, Alcaraz was triumphant on the clay in Buenos Aires, toppling Cameron Norrie in the final. But the next week in Rio de Janeiro his right leg flared up again during a hard fought, final round loss to Norrie. The strained right hamstring forced Alcaraz out of Acapulco the next week, leaving everyone speculating about how fit or confident he would be for Indian Wells and Miami, where he flourished last year, reaching the semifinals of the former and securing the latter crown.

Nadal’s history of physical woes—including daunting knee issues, a serious wrist injury, a rib stress fracture, a chronic foot impediment requiring injections all through his 14th triumphant journey through Roland Garros in 2022, and abdominal struggles thereafter—has been well chronicled across the tennis community. Somehow this soon to be 37-year-old gladiator has bounced back emphatically time and again to reestablish his preeminence.

Novak Djokovic was in a precarious place five years ago before elbow surgery saved his career. Since that crisis he has secured ten of his 22 major titles. Roger Federer’s career ended not simply because he was 41 when he retired, but as as result of numerous knee surgeries that could not provide the strength he needed to compete any longer on his own terms.

Alcaraz turns 20 in early May. He could become one of the all time greats in the game he plays so joyously for a living. But will he eventually match Nadal’s longevity?

Injuries to the leading competitors will never be eradicated, but can be reduced. Players must determine their schedules more carefully. Agents, physiotherapists and coaches need to speak up forthrightly and think of the long run, rather than solely examining the short term for their charges. The physical demands required to succeed at the highest levels of the game are almost unimaginably arduous, but lessons will inevitably be learned about the growing burdens of being an estimable professional tennis player in this day and age. The hope here is that the battlefield will soon be safer for the best performers to regularly produce their extraordinary magic.*