Tennis Perspective - the problem with pro tennis pt2

 The break that the great Novak Djokovic and Jannick Sinner are taking, in between the end of Wimbledon, and the start of the Western & Southern, is almost as long as the break they'll take at the end of the year. In fact, I venture to say it is longer than most players' break at the end of any given year. We're talking a complete month, four entire weeks.

The Canadian Open doesn't even start until the second week of next month. Why would anyone need to pull out now ? And how did Novak & Jannick cancel on the same day ? There is so much stupidity here. How about show up and lose guys ? How about not taking a ridiculously long break since you're supposed to be two of the top ten players ? 

So many guys are in North America right now. There is a star studded list of entrants for the Citi in DC. In fact, Alex Michelson, who just won the Michigan Challenger, is drawn against Jack Draper, who was  scheduled to play a Challenger in Canada, before I believe smartly deciding to play the qualies in Montreal. The Michigan Challenger and all the Canadian Challengers are full of players trying to get some hard court matches in. Bonzi and Popyrin are the top seeds in Vancouver this week. 

I'm not asking Novak and Jannick to play a Challenger, but why would they blow off DC, let alone Montreal ? They both are saying they're playing two more tournaments for the remainder of the season, outside of the ATP Finals. Thanks, guys. It was a great season. 

Jannick is breaking new ground, going from Wimbledon to his last two tournaments. Who cares what Novak does and where he plays, but Jannick is no.1. This is the kind of stuff that loses us fans, and it does nothing to gain any. Here I am arguing constantly that tennis should be shoved down the public's throat, for their own good, 24/7/365, and some of the top players don't even want to play tennis. No one in any sport is healthy all the time. But you guys play tennis, c'mon. You have the option of showing up and not playing the greatest match of your life. The fans, however, would appreciate you showing up and trying, you know, since you're ranked no.1 and everything. 

It makes absolutely no sense, especially for Novak's part time playing ass, to say the tour is just too much of a grind when you're taking off from July 12th to August 10th. The fans aren't trying to underwrite someone's twenty year career by changing the rules so they feel good all the time. That's not competition. And that does not take into account the reality of life on tour for the majority of players. You wanna break ? You can lose the first round and have an entire week off, if not two. 

I played an NAIA college tennis schedule. We played in six tournaments in the fall every year, before playing 2-3 matches each week during the spring. We got a two day break for Mardi Gras, and three days off for spring break. There is no way at this point that I believe Novak and Jannick could handle that. I played until the doctors literally pulled me off the court. Tennis is a sport where it is easy to tell how much heart you're putting into it. At this point, the top players just make me sick because they show up when they want and act like everyone's not playing hurt. These top players we're stuck with right now are no Ashe, no Connors, no Mac, no Guga, they're not even Marat Safin. The kids need to know that we can do better.

Greg "Lex" Gunther


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