[TeeRexx]

...play LESS events over the long 11 month season for better health and improved tournament results.

They lead the way in physical conditioning, power of positive thinking, court fashions and now more players will try to be like SERENA and VENUS WILLIAMS and play better tennis rather than just more tennis over the long season.

The long travel hours to many cities and countries took an incredible toll on the WTA players in 2001. The short list was who did not sustain an injury and this point was imphasized when the erstwhile invulnerable Hingis went down with a season ending injury.

Since the WTA is so greedy to and wishes to place a tournament on every available weekend all over the globe with no regard for the health of its players, the players must become proactive and use WLLIAMS like schedules to maintain their health and improve their rankings.

TR <img src="cool.gif" border="0">

 

[moby]

Thought for a moment it was gonna be one of TeeRexx's famous picture and caption thing.

I agree with Tee Rexx too. I think that they should review the 17 tournament per year and go back to the 14 one.

3 tournaments less, so what should they do. Cut short the season like Lindsay said, players have more time to practice instead of just playing and playing.

 

[Crazy Canuck]

Anything that will prevent injuries, would be great!

If that includes cutting back their schedules, that I hope that some of the top players choose to do that!

Unfortunately a lot of lower ranked players have to play week in week out just to get enough points to make main draws or play qualies, and make a living!

 

[Volcana]

It isn't even following Venus and Serena's lead. The top ten already plays less on average than everyone else.

17 LINDSAY DAVENPORT<br />17 JENNIFER CAPRIATI<br />12 VENUS WILLIAMS<br />18 MARTINA HINGIS<br />22 KIM CLIJSTERS<br />10 SERENA WILLIAMS<br />21 JUSTINE HENIN<br />26 JELENA DOKIC<br />16 AMELIE MAURESMO<br />10 MONICA SELES

The entire 2nd ten plays 20 or more. Venus and Serena both scheduled 17 originally. But in 2001, they didn't play more to make up for lost tournaments. The only top ten player who played a lot of WTA tournaments was Jelena Dokic. I suspect 2002 will mirror 2001. Clijster, Henin and Dokic will play more than 20, as will Testud and Shaughnessy. Davenport, Capriati, Williams (2x), Hingis and Mauresmo will all play less than 20. Monica? Who knows?

 

[Sam L]

Um but I thought Venus and Serena were playing more tournaments this year? Since they both are ready and fully fit in Australia now, I would think they would both play around 17 tournaments for the year. I don't think they will play 9-12 tournaments anymore.

Yes? <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

 

[-Sonic-]

Wasn't Martina's injury an more of an 'accident' injury rather than an 'injury' injury? And injuries can happen without playing, e.g. Venus not being able to play at Munich despite not playing since winning the US Open.

I think if they did go to 14, the top players that play 17 today would prob go down to 15 or so but people ranked below 12 or 15 would carry on as they are, or possibly play more to fill in the free slots tournaments will have, so they are actually making a living instead of spending what they make this week on next week's plane tickets.

Also some players just ask for injuries... e.g. Lindsay used to play Stanford, San Diego, LA, New Haven and then US Open... I'm not surprised all that hardcourt action didn't f*** her body up royally... and also just a couple of months ago winning 3 tournaments in a 3 weeks then playing the Munich Champs the week after... Some would argue she shouldn't have been disappointed she got the injury before the final, but should have been thankful she could have completed the first match at all. Still, Lindsay does take a break during clay season, quite wisely after her usual sydney/AO/tokyo/Scottsdale/IW/Miami trip, so shouldn't be so harsh on her as i am... unless the reason she needs a break is cos all that hardcourt and continent hopping nearly kills her.

well done to Amelie last year missing IW and Miami (big tournaments) and playing the 2 french tier 2's instead to prepare for a successful clay season, was v wise.

 

[TeeRexx]

volcana - three of the top ten that you listed that played the most events, if you will notice, were the only top 10 members who did not suffer a major injury.

SERENA and VENUS will play more in 2002, but not on a 25+ tourney schedule pace. Neither will some of the other elite players.

TR <img src="cool.gif" border="0">

 

[Brian Stewart]

I've always felt the claim that the ranking system led to injuries by causing the players to overplay was faulty. For evidence, look at where the players were getting injured. It wasn't at the 16, 17, 18 tournament mark. They were getting hurt at the 4, 5, 6 tournament mark. It's not that they were playing too many tournaments, it's that they were playing too many in a row on demanding surfaces.

If you cut the number of tournaments required for the rankings, Lindsay and the other hard-court players are still going to play mostly on their best surface. And if you adopt the old averaging system, they're just going to drop their least successful surface (usually clay). As long as someone like Lindsay persists in playing 4 or 5 weeks in a row on hard courts, her options are to get überfit, lose more early rounds, or get injured.

It's up to the players to schedule themselves smartly. If not, they're going to keep getting hurt. Of course, many advocates of lighter rankings requirements don't care if the top hard court players get hurt. They just want the other players, who play more on other surfaces, to be able to pass them in the rankings.