Sinner, very serious allegations have been made: here’s what the South Tyrolean tennis player has to do with it and who they come from.
Jannik Sinner has an unspecified hip problem. Carlos Alcaraz is dealing with a muscle edema in his pronator muscle. Daniil Medvedev withdrew from the recent Madrid Masters 1000 because of an adductor problem. This is not an epidemic, clearly, but it is quite unique that so many tennis players were injured at the same juncture.
And it is no accident, according to many insiders. It would be the obvious consequence, if anything, of the increasingly frantic pace in force on the Tour. On which many have been dwelling in recent hours, hoping to turn the spotlight on a rather crucial issue. The number 1 on the women’s circuit, Iga Swiatek, discussed it, but so did German tennis player Alexander Zverev, who spoke at a press conference at the Internazionali d’Italia to have his say on the Atp calendar.
The top ten, who two years ago was out of action for several months after his injury at Roland Garros, blames the problems of his colleagues and opponents precisely on the schedule, which leaves little breathing room, in fact, for the champions of the major circuit. He has thus launched very specific “accusations,” reiterating the need for a schedule that guarantees them a little more rest than they can afford at present.
Sinner’s injury is the straw that breaks the camel’s back
“I’ve been on the Tour for 10 years,” Zverev said, as Ubitennis notes, “the talk has always been about how to make the season shorter. This is not because we don’t want to play tennis, we love tennis, but it’s to have time to prepare our bodies for matches and to have time to heal our bodies. “
“Now we have an 11-month season. I was talking about this with Alex de Minaur: he played the Davis Cup on November 29 and his first ATP Cup match was December 29, that’s exactly one month, that’s not enough time. It’s not enough time to heal the body and to prepare it physically. Athletic preparation is not how much you train on the court or how much you play tennis, it is made up of work in the gym, work off the court. It is not possible to do this work during the season. We are given a rest and preparation period of only four weeks that no other sport has.”
“Of course,” he said again, “we don’t have to play every day, but at the end of the day there is no rest. Rest is when you are at home, sleeping in your bed, maybe with your family, your dog, your children. That is rest, a day between games is not rest.” And who knows, Jannik’s sacrifice, forced to give up the home tournament, may at least be of some use.
