Roger Federer\u2019s forehand<\/a>. He hits the ball with a closed racket and his swing barely gets as high as his shoulder yet he catapults the ball over 100mph (161kmh) and still keeps it in the court.<\/p>\nI guess we should start by looking at the pre-power era players. Roscoe Tanner<\/b> retired in 1985 after his elbow got so bad he couldn\u2019t unload that fearsome serve of his. He wasn\u2019t going to win a whole lot of matches without that serve. It turns out that Tanner had bone chips floating around his elbow and this was before sports medicine invented arthroscopic surgery.<\/p>\n
John McEnroe<\/b>, on the other hand, is still a top player on the senior circuit and he\u2019s now 48 years old. McEnroe never swung hard at the ball whereas I can\u2019t remember anyone who swings as hard as Rafael Nadal<\/b>.<\/p>\n
Nadal is only 21 years old yet he already has chronic problems with his feet and his knees \u2013 one injury no doubt leading to the other. Nadal winds up with his extreme Western grip and Popeye biceps and puts as much topspin on the ball as any human that ever lived. He also sets up far behind the baseline and runs many more miles than most tennis players because he seldom fails to get to the final of a clay court event. He had 81 straight wins on clay before Federer beat him in Hamburg last year. That\u2019s a lot of wear and tear.<\/p>\n
Bjorn Borg<\/b> had an unorthodox stroke too, in fact, he probably ushered in the era of extreme topspin and he won seven straight French Opens on clay. But injury didn\u2019t drive him from the game – it didn\u2019t have a chance – burnout did. After losing the 1981 U.S. Open final to John McEnroe<\/b>, he walked off the court and went straight to his courtesy car. He didn\u2019t even stay for the award ceremony.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a lot longer than Kim Clijsters<\/b> lasted. She left the game last year at age 23 to have a family. Remember, though, that Clijsters turned pro when she was 14 years old.<\/p>\n
So did Jennifer Capriati<\/b> who was hit with both burnout and injury. She took time off from tennis when she was 17 years old and suffered through some teenage angst. There was some drug use and typical teenage acting out. She resumed her career and won three slams but she\u2019s another sledgehammer player with a big serve and a shoulder injury finally seems to have ended her career for good.<\/p>\n
Okay, so burnout and injury are nothing new, but there is a theme here. If you\u2019re a power player who depends on slamming the ball as hard as you can from the baseline, you\u2019re going to wear yourself out. If you\u2019re a graceful mover who can take the game to your opponent and finish points off early, you should have a long and relatively injury free career.<\/p>\n
If the theory holds, what are my career longevity predictions for current players?<\/p>\n
Maria Sharapova<\/b> is a big server and big hitter who doesn\u2019t move that well and hates coming to the net. She\u2019s already had shoulder problems and could have more. On the other hand, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga<\/b> should do well because, though he\u2019s a big server and a big hitter, he can finish points off at the net and that shortens points and preserves his body.<\/p>\n
Finesse players should live long and prosper too, though they may not win many tournaments. Fabrice Santoro<\/b> has the record for number of grand slam appearances. His forehand is a two-handed slice for heavens sake. Santoro will still be playing senior tennis when he\u2019s 60 years old and he\u2019ll still be driving Federer crazy should Federer choose to play senior tennis.<\/p>\n
Of course, the theory doesn\u2019t always work. Andy Murray<\/b> is a walking injury and his game is all about finesse. Anna Chakvetadze<\/b> is most often compared to <\/b>Martina Hingis<\/b> but Hingis had to retire for three years with foot problems. And then there is unforeseeable disaster. Chakvetadze is still recovering from the shock of being robbed at gunpoint at her home in Moscow in late December. Her father was beaten by one of the robbers.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, life on the professional tennis tour goes on so I might as well give you today\u2019s injury report:<\/p>\n
Serena Williams<\/b> has pulled out of this week\u2019s indoor Paris event saying that she needs surgery. For what? We have no idea. Serena controls her channel of information, not the WTA. John Isner<\/b> has a stress fracture and will be gone for as long as it takes to heal. See what I mean about power players with big serves?<\/p>\n
What are your predictions for the career longevity of current players?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Joachim Johansson announced his retirement over the weekend due to recurring shoulder problems. He is 25 years old. Is this a sign that more careers are being cut short by injuries now that we have power rackets and ball-grabbing strings? By ball-grabbing strings I mean those Luxilon strings that enable a player to rear back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}