Monday, May 19, 2008
The injury plague hits both tours But gambling not a concern … huh?

Cynthia Lum/WireImage.com Roddick's RG hopes were rocked.Roddick out of Roland Garros: And with that pullout, goes America’s best chance of reaching the second week, unless James Blake magically produces a level on clay we haven’t seen from him or Sam Querrey hits every line in every set he plays during the first three rounds. Roddick was planning on competing as he did travel to Germany for World Team Cup, but his back (and upper shoulder) is still sore so he will take a few more weeks off before hopefully heading to Queens.

While Roddick wasn’t expected to do major damage, with a great draw, he could have scrapped his way to week two, as he did reach the Rome semis with favorable draw. Now, it looks like the rest of the US men will be hard pressed to equal the clay court prowess of their US female counterpart, Serena Williams.

Wrist Injuries Plague WTA: The WTA has chock full of injuries amongst the stars for the past decade, but here’s a disturbing pattern – this year alone, four notable, young players have had significant wrist problems: Nicole Vaidisova, Sania Mirza, Julia Vakulenko and Michaella Krajicek. Three are in terrible, injury-plagued slumps, and the other, Mirza, just pulled out of the French. Numerous factors could be causing this mini-plague: souped-up rackets, exaggerated swings, nuclear powered strings, but whatever the case, it’s bad news all around. How about a new study as what’s causing all the injuries (and please, don’t bring up a crowded schedule).

Krajicek Update: This dispatch from TennisReporters.net crack European correspondent, Abe Kuijl: “Michaela’s little brother Peter (15) had a rare, life-threatening infection (there's only a rare chance you can get it) and underwent surgery over Christmas (in which a part of his neck veins got removed), Krajicek said last week in an interview with the "Algemeen Dagblad," a leading Dutch newspaper that her brother was in a in a coma for two days. Peter is still weak now, but healthy. He has a very big scar from his neck to his chest. "The fact that he's healthy, is worth so much more than a win," she said.

Her brother's illness clearly affected her family. She also said she made a wrong decision in playing with her injured left wrist at the Australian Open (where she could only hit slice backhands, not two-handers). "A pure mistake. I'm 19 years old, so you do the wrong things sometimes. I learned from it and such a thing won't happen to me again." Her wrist isn't bothering her anymore now.

Gambling Probe Finds No Institutional Corruption: Big surprise there, given that it was the institutions themselves that paid for the probe. Where is Arlen Specter when you need him most?

The "Environmental Review of Integrity in Professional Tennis" that was launched in January to investigate the extent of gambling in the sport found that pro tennis was "neither systematically nor institutionally corrupt," but did discover that 45 matches in the past five years had unusual betting patterns and required further investigation. Wonder what those where?

NCAA Semis Worth Watching: College tennis looms large this week. The Division I women’s semis are on tap today in Tulsa, where new coach Amanda Augustus is hoping to take the Cal women to the final against Baylor, where they would meet the winner of Stella Sampras’ UCLA team and perennial powerhouse, Florida. The men’s’ semis will feature four big institutions: Billy Martin’s UCLA Bruins v. Texas, and Georgia v. Virginia. While foreign players proliferate in college tennis, there are a slew of good US players on these teams. BTW: Collette Lewis is providing excellent coverage at tenniskalamazoo.blogspot.com.

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