Mens Tennis

Is "physicallity" becoming too much of a threat to the well-being of Mens' tennis players
both present and future ?

It seems to me that too many folks are carrying injuries - be it strains, hernias,tendonitis etc.

Has Tennis moved away from the guile to merely brawn ?

Any thoughts ?

The problem is the courts by and large - they have slowed them all down too much so baseline rallying has become the norm, and in that scenario physicality (with talent too) does count. At places like FO it always did (and if you look at the types of players who won there over the years they were always amongst the fittest of their generation), but the other slams are becoming similar in their play, even Wimbledon.

The other court factor is more and more hardcourts which are extremely hard wearing on joints. The ATP seems hellbent on DecoTurf'ing the whole tour and making all courts play at their speed.

So they need to speed many of the courts up again to what they used to be. People may scream about the quickness of grass in the 90s and what a bore it was but today's string and racquet technology makes it easier to return fast serves and groundstrokes anyway (which is another issue making ralleys longer - more wear!) so lets see how current players would cope on faster courts - a faster game is also less wearing on the body, hence the players of the 80s played more matches and for longer careers than todays players.

Finally, the other issue is the calendar. Too many back to back events, and the best of 18 events rather than the pre-2000 14 means players chase more and more events to become higher in the ranking.

It all creates a heady mix of burn out and injury. Dont blame the players - blame the ITF and ATP!

Thanks (and WELCOME) Lydian

I think that MONEY MONEY MONEY has taken hold of
tennis and is pushing the players to their limits !

Trouble is I don't think that todays Modern Players can cope
with a Fast Court and Balls! Baseline slug seems to have taken
over.

Tennis doesn't seem to be about clever *dink shots* a la Santoro
anymore = And More's the pity !

You gotta pace yourself, Federer's slam semi/quarter final records shows it can be done.

Federer is Phenomenal eric !

When it comes down to a Slam he is a different animal !