Tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou — credited by Serena Williams with taking her from “great to history” — has given short shrift to the idea that the men’s calendar needs changing after a spate of injuries to some of the sport’s leading players.
Five of the world’s top 11 ranked men’s players will miss the US Open, which started Monday, through injury.
But when asked by CNN Sport’s Amanda Davies whether the men’s calendar needed changing, Mouratoglou suggested that players should follow Roger Federer’s example and think more carefully about what tournaments they play in.
The 36-year-old Federer, who has won 18 grand slam titles, started 2017 by claiming the Australian Open, then opted not to play the French Open, before triumphing at Wimbledon.
“The fact is that if they play longer, they also have to be able to manage their schedule better or differently,” Mouratoglou said.
“I think the players are slowly but surely learning to manage their schedule and that’s the tendency — players play longer and they have to be able to prevent themselves from getting burned out throughout the season.
“I think that Roger [Federer] did it really well this year. He skipped Roland Garros, that was really difficult for him because of course it’s a grand slam and he would love to have a chance to win it.
“But he thought, ‘If I do that, I put myself in a position to maybe win Wimbledon,’ that’s what he did so that was very smart of him,” added Mouratoglou.
Breakdown
Twelve-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic is another absentee from Flushing Meadows — last month he announced he wouldn’t play again during the 2017 season due to a long standing elbow injury.
This year the ATP World Tour, which started in January and will end in November, comprised 62 tournaments in 31 countries.
Todd Ellenbecker, the ATP’s Vice President of Medical Services, believes the relentless grind over the year is the cause for the majority of injuries on the tour.
“Most of the injuries in tennis are what are classified as overuse … Not one particular force or trauma but a continued, repeated overload of smaller forces that lead to a breakdown in the player’s body,” Ellenbecker told Reuters.
