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Who underachieved because of injuries?

6K views 87 replies 63 participants last post by  Gentleman 
#1 ·
Which tennis players do you think extremely underachieved because of injuries? Who could have had a highly successful career if not injuries?

One is Robson. She was successful as a junior player, then transitioned very nicely collecting high profile wins regularly and climbing up the rankings, and then she was never the same because of her wrist injury.
Bencic seems to follow the same path now. The injuries really set her back.
Azarenka should have won more slams if she wasn't extremely injured.
 
#2 ·
Rybarikova seems to get injured as soon as she starts to play well
 
#4 ·
Vaidosova and Bencic to name a few.

I also believe Azarenka's injuries in her prime really set her back on the Slam count, and now the pregnancy when she was finally back :sobbing:
Sharapova for one would probably add a few more.



also, does brain injury count?
 
#5 ·
Kournikova (retired at 21) with back problems. Safina back problems. Chakvetadze, Vaidisova. Cancer with Kleybanova.
Myskina had a foot injury. I remember Pierce's last match vs Zvonareva. That was a bad knee injury
 
#6 ·
Safina and Andrea Petkovic.

The way Andrea came to the top 1ö two times from way below and then hopped from one injury to the next was just sad. Those were the years an athelte has the best results.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Venus Williams. That 2003 abdominal injury changed her game. She should have won at least 14 Slams.

Safina is another name I think of. She could play when she was at the top of her game but she had a lot of problems with injuries.
 
#10 ·
Urszula Radwańska
 
#12 ·
Safina definitely. She had an amazing career regardless, but she absolutely could have won a slam. As far as players who had tons of potential but never really achieved much due to injuries, Linetskaya comes to mind.
 
#17 ·
Golovin and Szavay.

Maria also to some extent, I wonder if she could have achieved more if she hadn't had a fake heart condition and pre-diabetes her whole career.
probably the other way around, without meldonium, she probably wouldn't have the stamina to go the distance. we'll see how she'll perform after her doping ban. but it's hard to measure because by then she's 30 years old and passed her prime.
 
#16 ·
In terms of winning slams and being successful, Azarenka, Vaidisova, Safina.

We often hypothesise on all the slams Vika could've won 2013 onwards, she should have at least 5 considering how weak the field got.

Vaidisova had huge chances coming after reaching a couple semis, she definitely could have at least won RG, AO or Wimbledon.

Dinara could've won those two RG finals, and considering how weak the field got, she should've won at least one RG.

Also if Seles getting stabbed is an injury, then definitely her.
 
#20 ·
I think a more relevant thread would be "Who didn't 'underachieve' because of injuries?" or "Who managed to stay healthy throughout their entire career to not suffer major setbacks at one point or another?". From the Williams sisters to the much less known players like Dulgheru (and all her knee injuries & surgeries in the past years), most of WTA would have accomplished much more had they been healthy bar minor injuries. And if there wasn't an injury, there was another drama in their life blocking their development and success (see Lucic-Baroni).

I don't know that much about ITF, and if the girls there push their body so much, but it's a fierce battle at the top and most of them are often taking risks that sooner or later come at a cost. I can easily come up with 20-30 top players (current or has-been) whose injury-related losses can be counted in millions of dollars of cash prizes lost, but I can't think of even 10 who enjoyed an injury-free career. Maybe there are, but they might happen to be among the girls who didn't draw my attention to follow them close enough to know about all their injuries.

And that's what I fear this thread will be: most will rather list their faves, because they're most aware of the injuries they suffered AND have the necessary faith in them to believe that otherwise they would have accomplished much more.

Take Robson for example: yes, she had the injury. But whose to say, just based on her good junior results, that she had slams written in her future? Halep defeated Elena Bogdan to win junior Roland Garros once. Where is Halep now, and where is Bogdan meanwhile, even if she had less injuries since (that I know of :unsure:)? There are a lot of subjective maybe's and what-if's on such topic, that it's bound to be a discussion full of bias... where in a way everyone's right, yet you won't get a consensus on who "underachieved" the most.
 
#26 ·
Along with those others have mentioned, Bartoli.
 
#27 ·
Sania Mirza, Laura Robson, Dinara Safina.

I would not include anyone who's won a slam, the ultimate achievement. Everyone gets injured, even Serena was out for a year. But the above 3 never snapped out of their injury streaks and Sania and Laura have such amazing forehands.
 
#31 · (Edited)
Definitely Dinara Safina , Anna Chakvetadze, Elena Dementieva. If it wasn't for those damn injuries.....and I always thought they had at least 1 or 2 slams in them. I'd even put Justine into this - if it wasn't for her early retirement, she could have achieved like 10-12 slams, including that Wimbledon title.
Also Sam. If she was mentally stronger, she could've had 2-3 slams already and been top 3. When she's on, she gives her best in the matches.
Then Venus, Petko.
 
#39 ·
Sam revealed early in 2015 how serious her foot injuries were and that she had even been unable to go for a jog since 2012, and was only able to train freely from the beginning of 2016. Her movement on court was definitely affected by it, and of course this affects setting up for her top class, big heavy forehand. It started with ankle spurs in 2012 which she had surgery for, and on going plantar fasciitis (and calf and Achilles issues). That foot injuries seemed to just come right, when shortly after her 2016 clay season success, she was struck with the shoulder injury that seems to be plaguing her on and off. I definitely think she had another couple of slams in her. The period just after winning the US Open in 2011 was also a mess for her mentally as you said, due to the burden of expectations.

Li Na also a big candidate for underachieving due to injuries. She retired way too early because of it.
 
#43 · (Edited)
Everybody talking Bencic and she was out only for 2 months. She lost her ranking because she played Premiers only when out of form. Actually Konjuh already had 2 surgeries so she is one of them.
Tomljanovic is only 23 and had to sit out two season, one due to mono and other due to shoulder injury.

Other answers are obvious: Oudin, Hampton, Kanepi, Robson


But at the end of the day, everybody's gonna have some injuries sooner or later. It's how you deal with them. Some do it better, some worse.
 
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