Who says what: Why are the players not resting?

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Berdych is one of the stars playing in the debut IPTL season. Photo by Mal Taam/maltphoto

The women have been done for three weeks now and many of them are itching to play again. But, hold on, the 2015 won’t start until January 3, so relax a little bit, enjoy it and make sure that your body feels very good. Why? Because we have met so many people who over trained in December and, by the time they are in Australia, they are already hurt and that is not good, not good at all when there is now long rests from January through October.

So, when you have a chance, sit down and rest until you are feeling very good and then you can get up and train again. But, don’t get so anxious and most especially, don’t complain that the year is too long if you aren’t resting now …

What is a bit of crazy is players who are done for the season of the WTA and ATP are still playing exhibitions? So fine, if they like to play, love the different places and want to have fun and, of course, they are earning big money. Then, fine. But, do not complain about too many tournaments. If you want to discuss about the future of the Slams, the WTA, the ATP, whomever, that is fine, but do not pretend that you were not over worked in November and December for the WTA, and the second half of November and December in the ATP. Let’s be honest and real …

Yes, the new International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) this weekend looks very impressive. A number of excellent stars such as Maria Sharapova, Jo Tsonga, Tomas Berdych, Andy Murray, Ana Ivanovic and Sania Mirza and more are playing. We say: Good for you to the Manila fans who went out to watch some of the best players for the first time on the Philippines courts. But what we do know is that the top players are paid big dollars and what we do not know if whether the owners can make enough money this week to repeat in 2015. Perhaps they will, but the top players will usually try it once, but then skip it the next time unless they are competing for points. They don’t know if the tours will recognize the league and the player may never receive the points. Unless it matters a great deal, the major players will skip it and then the owner will have to convince the fans that they should come out and follow the second tier. Maybe they will, but it is rare.

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