[MakarovaFan]

For the players Is it harder to deal with injuries or mental blocks??
As a player(and i have dabbled in ATP satelite events) my problems are mental and i defintely feel like those are far more frustrating because you can always comeback from an injury but once something becomes mental(depending on your head) there may never be a solution! Plus the feeling of playing perfectly in practice only to do a 180 in the actual match has to be one of the most torturous and depressing things i personally have experienced!

[goldenlox]

Physical problems are much worse. Most of the time when people say mental problems, the real reason for the loss is that their game has a weakness in it.
Physical problems, like Safina & Sharapova, they can screw over your whole career.

[SELVEN]

The former,beacuse it will be never healed.

[MakarovaFan]

Originally Posted by goldenlox

Physical problems are much worse. Most of the time when people say mental problems, the real reason for the loss is that their game has a weakness in it.
Physical problems, like Safina & Sharapova, they can screw over your whole career.

Think carefully about what you said.....Maria no longer has a physical problem,its all mental. See her injury lead her to have mental problems but then injury went away and she is still left with the mental issues!!!

[goldenlox]

I think that injury and the time off and the different service motions are all physical.
You can say Dinara's back isn't a problem now either, but that time off and all the problems it caused were physical.
They are not the same players anymore. I dont think Maria suddenly became a mental case. She went thru a lot just get back on the tour.

[MakarovaFan]

Originally Posted by goldenlox

I think that injury and the time off and the different service motions are all physical.
You can say Dinara's back isn't a problem now either, but that time off and all the problems it caused were physical.
They are not the same players anymore. I dont think Maria suddenly became a mental case. She went thru a lot just get back on the tour.

Dinara obviously still has issues with her back as even she herself has said it but Maria.....the lack of aggresion,the tenativeness,pushing and guiding the ball,the doubt she never used to have,the nervous double faults......that's all mental(minus some of the doubles) trust me, especially when in practice she excels!

[Anthony.]

Is the injury like a blister? Or a Dinara/Maria case?

If then, it's the physical injury. Because even if you do recover, it'll be there mentally.

[Horizon]

Originally Posted by Anthony.

Is the injury like a blister? Or a Dinara/Maria case?

If then, it's the physical injury. Because even if you do recover, it'll be there mentally.

Exactly... so surely mental problems are worse?


Take the Seles incident:
Physically, it took her a while for her body to recover; hospital, bandages etc.
But mentally, she was never quite the same. Isn't that what really hurt her?

[Elisse]

Mental problems are far worse than injuries. Though injuries are frustrating, especially if you are prone to them...the mental aspect is more debilitating, always having in your mind the prospect of the next injury etc...

Also mental insecurities can be from all different parts of life, not just the tennis...yes worrying that you can't win a match, thinking that you are not good enough to play at the highest level, lack of confidence, worrying about retaining ranking points, plus the constant feeling that you need to play perfectly but also in private parts of life too...relationships, missing home and family, financial problems, pressure from Federations/sponsors can all contribute to mental weakness, and when you have those doubts about different aspects of life it all just builds up and can make the person feel totally out of control. If you have an injury...even a serious knee injury for example, you have the operation, you do the physio, you recover and you come back and play. Mental insecurities are far worse and often can't be solved until the person stops playing. (Dokic is a classic example of someone whose career has been effected due to psycology)

I think there are probably more players who have retired because of mental problems rather than injury...even if we don't know about it.

[AnomyBC]

Both can destroy a career, but if I was a player and I was given the choice, I'd definitely prefer to have mental problems. I think once you have a serious physical problem you're usually never going to be 100% again, but you can be 100% again after dealing with mental problems. So that's the big difference for me. Injuries are often permanent, but mental problems are only temporary.

[AnomyBC]

Originally Posted by MakarovaFan

Think carefully about what you said.....Maria no longer has a physical problem,its all mental. See her injury lead her to have mental problems but then injury went away and she is still left with the mental issues!!!

I don't think that's true at all. I think Maria's problems are still more physical than mental. She's had a loss of confidence for sure, but it comes from the fact that she's no longer able to play the way she used to.

[MakarovaFan]

Originally Posted by AnomyBC

Both can destroy a career, but if I was a player and I was given the choice, I'd definitely prefer to have mental problems. I think once you have a serious physical problem you're usually never going to be 100% again, but you can be 100% again after dealing with mental problems. So that's the big difference for me. Injuries are often permanent, but mental problems are only temporary.

I think it's 100% opposite. Injuries heal over time and with enough training and determination can be overcome....but mental problems in the head can never be healed. Put it this way tough injury/surgery can take 6-12 months to fully heal but a severe mental problem can be with you for years!!

[MakarovaFan]

Originally Posted by AnomyBC

I don't think that's true at all. I think Maria's problems are still more physical than mental. She's had a loss of confidence for sure, but it comes from the fact that she's no longer able to play the way she used to.

That's not true at all, just look at her play last summer,specifically Cincinatti....she was blitzing in form players left and right and up until the rain delay in the final,she was looking to be the Maria of old. That fact alone proves that its all in her head!

[BuTtErFrEnA]

depends on the injury and the player....

physical can lead to mental even after the physical has healed....

some small injuries are just a wait it out and get back to normal...some mental things like elena/petrova seemingly can't be overcome

[AnomyBC]

Originally Posted by MakarovaFan

Dinara obviously still has issues with her back as even she herself has said it but Maria.....the lack of aggresion,the tenativeness,pushing and guiding the ball,the doubt she never used to have,the nervous double faults......that's all mental(minus some of the doubles) trust me, especially when in practice she excels!

A lot of that comes from the fact that she's not as fast as she used to be. The double faults come from her having problems with decelerating her arm when she serves. And the doubt comes from not being able to play the way she used to play, and in particular not being able to rely on her serve as much. In other words, any mental issues she has are the result of the physical issues she's dealing with. There's nothing mentally wrong with her beyond what you would expect from any player dealing with physical injuries.