PETE ZIEBRON
"My wrist is hurting a lot. It's hurting all the time." - Juan Martin del Potro this week in Dubai. Pete Ziebron Images
The injury bug continues to haunt professional tennis this week as all 3 ATP tournaments lost their #1 seeds due to retirement during match play. The 500 level tournament in Dubai saw Juan Martin del Potro exit in his very first match after dropping the first set 6-7 (3) to Somdev Devvarman. Acapulco's 500 event lost their top seed David Ferrer in his quarterfinal against Kevin Anderson while he was leading the match 6-2 2-4. Finally, Tommy Haas retired during his semifinal match in the 250 level tournament in Sao Paulo against Paolo Lorenzi when he was trailing 3-6 2-3.
The news about del Potro is especially concerning given the fact that he has already visited the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota in January for concerns about his right wrist. Following his retirement against Devvarman, a match where del Potro actually held 3 set points, he elaborated on his decision not to continue playing, this time due to his left wrist:
"My wrist is hurting a lot, and, you know, everybody knows what's happen to me four years ago with my other wrist. I mean, it was really tough to play today and I tried everything, but it's very difficult play like in these conditions, you know, playing slices or I cannot be the player what I would like to be."
- Ironically, del Potro was also entered in the doubles competition with Radek Stepanek and they won their first match. One must question that particular decision, especially given the fact that del Potro admitted that his wrist is constantly ailing him:
"It's hurting all the time, and it's sometimes less and sometimes little more. But it's hurting, and I have been in contact with my doctor all the time. He's trying to keep me motivated to keep playing, but I know what it's my limit playing on court. Today was enough."
World #4 David Ferrer was playing in his 6th tournament in 2014 this week in Acapulco (Novak Djokovic played only his 2nd of the year this week) and retired in his 25th match of the year in the quarterfinals against Kevin Anderson. Ferrer was forced to stop play due to a left leg strain.
Today, 35 year old Tommy Haas was forced to retire from his semifinal match due to a a right shoulder injury he encountered in the first set of his match with Paolo Lorenzi. Haas hurt his shoulder midway through the first set and decided to stop play in the middle of the second set.
In addition to the unfortunate circumstances on the ATP Tour, the 2 WTA tournaments this week have also encountered dramatic conclusions to matches.
- 2 WTA quarterfinals and 1 WTA semifinal this week have ended in retirement.
In Florianopolis, Brazil, both quarterfinals did not go the distance. Romanian Monica Niculescu, the tournament's #5 seed retired at 6-4 0-6 1-4 to #1 seed Carla Suarez Navvaro and another Romanian, qualifier Alexandra Dulgheru could not finish her quarterfinal with #3 seed Karla Zakapalova when she trailed 3-6 2-5.
Meanwhile, in Acapulco, #8 seed Shuai Zhang of China retired in her semifinal match against #1 seed Dominika Cibulkova at 2-4. Ironically, Cibulkova, the 2014 Australian Open Finalist, retired in her first round match in Doha 2 weeks ago.
The tennis season started with several injuries in New Zealand and Australia in January. Unfortunately the trend has continued in February as the ATP 250 level tournament in Delray Beach was rocked with 5 retirements. This week, in addition to del Potro having to stop play in Dubai, Mikhail Youzhny and Nikolay Davydenko were both unable to take the court for their respective matches.
Heading into March following play this week, the ATP and WTA Tours travel to the United States for the two largest tournaments outside of the majors, the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California followed by Sony Open Tennis in Key Bisacyne, Florida. Hopefully the tournaments will be able to avoid the rash of injuries that have plagued professional tennis thus far in 2014.
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