Welcome to the Monday Tennis Briefing, Competitor will explain the story behind what happened in court last week. This week sees the first week of the coveted Rome Masters 1000, and the stories on the field are matched by the drama off it. Novak Djokovic was knocked out by a water bottle and Rafael Nadal took the next step in his comeback, with the spectacle replaced by some bizarre officiating.
Is everyone hurt now?
If you’d like to follow our great tennis coverage, click here.
Is all this harm a signal or noise?
At lunchtime on a Friday, Rome and Piazza d’Italia briefly felt like an infirmary, one medical bulletin after another.
First, defending champion Elena Rybakina withdrew due to illness, and the first match of the day at Campo Centrale and Pietrangeli ended in retirement: the former was Lorenzo Musetti ( Lorenzo Musetti (virus), the latter Anna Blinkova (ankle).
Later in the day, world No. 7 Kaspar Ruud suffered back problems in his loss to Miomir Kekmanovic, who had a similar injury and said after the match that he had taken Three medicines to numb the pain.
Before the start of the Italian Open, two men’s favorites, Yannick Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, withdrew from the tournament due to health issues. Defending champion Daniil Medvedev arrived with a thigh problem. Elsewhere on Friday, Dominic Thiem announced that he will retire later this year due to a long-standing wrist problem.
So, does tennis have an injury problem?
It was a talking point during the first week in Rome, Danielle Collins, who has benefited from Blinkova’s retirement, tells us Competitor It was felt after the match that the situation was an occupational hazard given the ruthless schedule of tennis.
Collins helped Blinkova before she had to retire (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
“That’s to be expected when we have so many tournaments in a row,” she said. “This is a sport where when people travel a lot and compete a lot, injuries and illnesses are going to happen.
“I’m not surprised. It’s a long season – everyone has injuries during the season.
A few days ago, Medvedev downplayed the impact of his withdrawal: “Injuries are generally coincidental, unless everyone suffers the same injury.”
Grigor Dimitrov, the 32-year-old veteran ranked 10th in the world, offered a different perspective: “In the last two and a half years we have seen more retirees because of this Sports are more demanding.
deeper
How to Repair a Tennis Ball
Can Kerber and Osaka come back (on clay?)
Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber are both very good tennis players, and giving birth doesn’t change that.
That doesn’t mean coming back is easy. Tennis does not protect a player’s ranking during maternity leave, so women can get stuck in the early rounds of matches and struggle to win when they need it most. Osaka and Kerber have been dealing with this over the past few months, showing flashes of their past Grand Slam-winning selves but also showing periods of inconsistency that could end up in two of tennis’s three sets. Bring bad luck.
Osaka embraces clay this week (Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
But in Rome, Kerber is back in the Round of 16 of the Masters 1000, where she will take on world No. 1 Iga Swiatek. For Bell, entering the second week is already a victory for her comeback. With her career-best results on grass and hard courts, she’s not a player any seed wants to face this summer.
Osaka’s coach, Wim Fissette, has set a goal for her to return to form for this year’s grueling North American swing, but Osaka is notoriously impatient and has a newfound order in red. People are afraid. Roma had arguably her best week, beating one of the best players this year, Marta Kostyuk, and possibly the smartest player in the world, Daria Kasat Daria Kasatkina. Next up was Australian Open finalist Zheng Qinwen. The 21-year-old enjoyed the match, beating an errant Osaka in straight sets.
The defeat didn’t hurt Osaka’s commitment to improving on a surface she usually doesn’t like at all. Osaka lost early in Madrid and went to Mallorca for training before Rome. “I watched some videos,” she said. “I watched Rafa. I watched Alcaraz. I watched Rublev and it was very inspiring. He was shooting the ball and I thought, ‘I don’t want to leave the court with regrets.’ In Madrid, I do regret not using my abilities to the fullest.
No regrets? sounds good.
On the Tramway: Should referees be part of the show?
The rise of electronic line calling (ELC) means that umpires are becoming increasingly marginalized figures in tennis.
Clay is a little different, with tournaments including the Italian Open still relying on them to jump out of their chairs to check for ball marks.
Britain’s world number 67 Dan Evans faced local favorite Fabio Fognini in a tight final on Thursday night, with Fognini The forehand volley was short and wide, but too wide. The line umpire responsible for the single on the sideline initially extended his arm to signal an out. Eagle-eye evidence suggested it was out; referee Mohammad Rayani insisted that was not the case.
“You can’t show me the mark, the ball didn’t hit the damn line,” as Evans said.
Lajani’s thirst for spectacle infuriated players (Alex Pantlin/Getty Images)
Rayani insisted during the argument that it was the linesman who ruled the ball in, but that does not appear to be the case. The incident came a year after Evans’ compatriot Andy Murray was involved in a similar dispute with Rayani – with the same opponent and at the same match.
The argument continued and Evans was issued a violation warning for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Some people think this is not entirely a coincidence. Layani is happy to be involved in the game, sometimes taking it too far, such as six years ago when he gave Nick Kyrgios a pep talk during a match and was subsequently banned from the ATP. In Rome, Laiani was mobbed by spectators in the Piazza d’Italia, a surreal sight. Officials are not usually respected in this way, and in last year’s game Djokovic scolded the referee for it, asking him “what’s the drama here” and “are you acting here” during a scoreline row.
Perhaps once the ELC fully takes over, this will be a thing of the past – the ATP has said it plans to use the technology at all clay-court events next year – and umpires will be pushed further to the edge. For some, this is a step forward; for others, more evidence of sanitizing tennis balls.
deeper
Rublev’s absence in Dubai is why tennis needs electronic line calls
Why do so many people think someone threw a bottle at Djokovic?
On Friday night, it was widely believed that Djokovic was hit intentionally with a water bottle rather than accidentally, for several reasons.
The first is the original footage to make it look like that.
The second and more telling reason is that it doesn’t seem particularly far-fetched that someone hates Djokovic to the point of throwing bottles at him. Perhaps these preconceptions explain why so many people believe this was intentional – not just his most loyal fans, but also tennis social media aggregators, puppets and Boris Becker.
Djokovic’s divisiveness is well-documented, his legions of supporters are well-documented, and his array of astonishing achievements cannot be ignored. Without reliving the case here, the animosity originally stemmed from his rivalry with the much-loved Nadal and Roger Federer.
This has intensified over the past few years.
Djokovic often found humor in commanding partisan crowds (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Arguably, he surpassed both in relatively minor achievements. He has always stressed that not getting vaccinated against Covid-19 is a personal choice, but the decision has drawn rebuke and unwittingly made him a poster boy for those who see choice as a victory against the establishment.
There have been other controversies – his father was photographed posing with supporters of Vladimir Putin at last year’s Australian Open; he wrote on TV cameras in the first week of last year’s French Open Saying “Kosovo is Serbia’s (heart symbol)” in response to violence in Kosovo, thrusting himself once again into the fighting that has plagued the Balkans for nearly 1,000 years, he has been accused of aligning himself with fascism and a philosophy that led to ethnic cleansing.
Djokovic said both were misunderstood.
Thankfully, Djokovic was spared the attack on Friday and the next day he made light of the incident, arriving in a bicycle helmet before losing to Alejandro Tabilo Piazza Italia.
deeper
Novak Djokovic was a lightning rod a year ago, now he’s royalty
No shooting opportunities this week
World Club Players: Does this look familiar?
Left on purpose, @dThiagoMonteiro 😉#IBI24 pic.twitter.com/dEzRP3Mk8N
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 8, 2024
Best shot of the week
World Club Players: this Look familiar?
Oh no, he didn’t…😱@dThiagoMonteiro One of the shots from this week in Rome!#IBI24 pic.twitter.com/4WB864fuZS
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 10, 2024
Recommended reading:
📅Coming soon
🎾 Adenosine triphosphate:
📍Rome, Italian Open (1000) Week 2, ft. Stefanos Tstitsipas, Alejandro Tabilo, Thiago Monteiro, Grigor Dimitrov
📺 UK: Sky Sports; US: Tennis Channel 💻 Tennis TV
🎾 Women’s Tennis Association:
📍Rome, Italian Open (1000) Week 2, Ft. Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff.
📺 UK: Sky Sports; US: Tennis Channel
As the tour continues, let us know in the comments what you noticed this week.
(Top: Mike Hewitt; Alex Pandling; Dan Isitene/Getty Images)
