Here we are in the fall, and a lot of people are taking a break. It is the injury factor. In the past 10 days, many good players have retired or pulled out. I could name 10 people who are hurt — which is a lot — but I will just name a couple people, the most important people, Rafael Nadal, Nick Kyrgios and Simona Halep.
Nadal won the US Open and he did play a little bit at the Laver Cup last week, but he stopped playing on Sunday. He was hurt, so he will not play for the next four weeks, or even longer. The No. 2 is hoping that he can play at the Paris Masters and the ATP Finals. He hopes to, because he is really aware that if he gets significantly hurt, then maybe he won’t have a very good chance to win the 2020 Australian Open, which would give him 20 Grand Slams, tied with Roger Federer. Now that would be fascinating.
After Kyrgios lost easily at Zhuhai, he said that he is pretty much done. He may not play the rest of the season, because he has a hampered with his shoulder. He cannot serve huge or crush his forehand and backhand. Kyrgios l has happened so many times. He has to get it fixed. Go to the doctors in Australia, and have them really look at it. If he has to deal with his surgery, then so be it. If he wants to win a Grand Slam, that is the only choice.
“I’m serving usually somewhere around the 230 kilometers an hour mark and I wasn’t even able to crack about 180,” he said. “There’s no point for me to play if I can’t really serve, because serving is my strength, my favorite shot, my whole game is based around it and that’s where I’ve had my success this year when I’ve been serving my best. I’m probably not going to bother playing until I can get it right again.” Kyrgios did say, however, he does want to play the Davis Cup in a couple months. That is possible, but he cannot be so risky. Or he can retire again.
Like everyone, he just wants to go home to Australia. That is a very good idea.
“Man, I haven’t been home in almost seven months. So, at any rate I’m not even too sure what I’m going to do moving forward with the rest of my season,” Kyrgios said.
Kyrgios got off easy when the ATP gave him six months of probation after investigating his out-of-control behavior in Cincinnati. He can avoid a 16-week suspension and $25,000 fine if behaves over the six-month period.
Halep sidelined
Halep pulled out at Wuhan because she was injured. A couple days ago, the Romanian said that she is more relaxed but she is motivated, and as always, she works hard. Guess what? On court she has to deal with a herniated disc. That injury happened a year ago, in Beijing, and she retired in the first round. She stopped playing the rest of the year.
Hopefully, the two-time Grand Slam champion will recover quickly. Whether she can or cannot, she up and down in 2019. At least she won Wimbledon in July, and that will stay with her forever.
Here is one positive: Andy Murray won a match at Zhuhai. He bounced Tennys Sandgren, winning his first singles match. It took him eight months to do it. Murray dug deep to take Alex de Minaur to a third set but lost 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. The three-time Slam champ is improving.