Injuries cloud the French Open
If we take our minds back to January, we will recall that injuries threw a cloud over the first major of the year, the Australian Open. Two legitimate title threats bowed out at the last minute -- Serena Williams and Andre Agassi -- and reigning number one Lindsay Davenport was recovering from knee surgery. To make matters worse, once the tournament started Venus Williams, Gustavo Kuerten and Andy Roddick, among others, saw physical ailments hamper their chances at the title.
It seems the injury bug has already hit the year?s second Grand Slam, the French Open, which will start in just over a week.
Hingis hobbled: Martina Hingis, who dominated the sport in the waning years of the 1990s and was just a point away from adding a fourth Australian Open title to her resumé this year, has withdrawn from the French Open. The Swiss star, who had to pull out of this week?s Italian Open due to a leg ailment, will undergo surgery on Monday to repair a ruptured ligament in her left ankle, and the date of her return is not yet known.
That is, if she does return. Hingis?s attending physician, Dr Heinz Buhlmann, raised the possibility that inflammation in the former number one?s joints may force her out of tennis. "We have to see how far the inflammation in the joints has already led to arthrosis," said Buhlmann. "We cannot yet say how sensible it would be for her to continue her career or whether to end it would be advisable on medical grounds.?
Venus left holding the bag: Venus Williams threw a scare into the Roland Garros organizers when she withdrew from the Italian Open this week, just minutes before a scheduled match with Anna Kournikova. Reportedly, the two-time Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion injured her right wrist while picking up her tennis bag during a practice session. Williams was diagnosed with a ligament sprain of the right wrist, but this should not impede her entry into the big rendezvous in Paris. WTA trainer Philippa
Stewart opined, "She will probably be able to play at Roland Garros."
Some eyebrows might have been raised about this injury and the explanation given for its occurrence, particularly in view of Venus?s history of suspicious withdrawals. But perhaps we should give the elder Williams sister the benefit of the doubt. Richard Evans, in his column that appears monthly in the French Magazine Tennis, (a column which would have been written well before the Williams episode) recalled a day when he was struggling with his bags at the airport. Arthur Ashe called a porter fo
r Evans, and told the journalist, "You have no idea how easy it is to pull a muscle until it happens to you."
Ferrero?s fitness in doubt: Juan Carlos Ferrero, the brilliant young Spanish ace, appeared to stamp his name as the French Open favourite with an impressive run to the Monte Carlo title last month. But the Spanish star has been suffering from foot and leg injuries this season, and his performances subsequent to Monte Carlo left much to be desired. (2 wins and 3 losses since then).
Ferrero has returned to Spain in attempt to ready himself for the big test in Paris, and suddenly his physical troubles may have opened up possibilities for his adversaries.
Is Guga really back?: Of course, on the men?s side, when one thinks of the French Open, one?s mind turns to three-time French champion Gustavo Kuerten. ?Guga? has made an astonishingly fast recovery from February hip surgery, and has already played three events this spring, reaching the quarterfinals in two of them (Mallorca and Hamburg).
But the Brazilian champion is used to better performances than quarterfinals on the clay, and the gruelling five-set matches in Paris may prove too much for him. ?I will arrive in Paris much better than I thought I would,? said Kuerten after his three-set loss to Roger Federer in the Hamburg quarterfinals. ?But I'm not one of the favorites."
Who will prevail in Paris? It promises to be a most intriguing fortnight.