Re: 2017 General Tennis News

by **Cromar** Wed Dec 20, 2017 4:12 pm

Didn't realize that so many had retired in 2017... Surprised face

ATPWorldTour looks back on the careers of the players who retired from professional tennis this year

Player Retirements (Part One) :

Juan Monaco (Retired: 15 May), career-high No. 10
Albert Montanes (Retired: 27 April), career-high No. 22
Grega Zemlja (Retired: 12 August), career-high No. 43
Somdev Devvarman (Retired: 2 January), career-high No. 62
Giovanni Lapentti (Retired: 10 February), career-high No. 110

Colin Fleming (Retired: 16 January), doubles career-high No. 17

Player Retirements (Part Two) :

Radek Stepanek (Retired: 14 November), career-high No. 8
Paul-Henri Mathieu (Retired: 29 October), career-high No. 12
Benjamin Becker (Retired: 16 September), career-high No. 35
Marco Chiudinelli (Retired: 24 October), career-high No. 52

Mariusz Fyrstenberg (Retired: 16 September), doubles career-high No. 6

by **Cromar** Wed Dec 20, 2017 10:50 pm

It looks like Berdych is not going to have a smashing comeback in 2018...

Tomas Berdych downshifts ’18 sked

Back issues hampered former top-10 player Tomas Berdych in 2017, and ended his season in early October. The 33-year-old plans to make some adjustments for 2018. "The only part of the year when I felt good and my back did not hurt I played a Wimbledon semifinal, and that's about it," Berdych told the Czech media outlet Tyden. Berdych played a couple of matches in the Czech Extra Liga last week. He lost to Jan Satral (current ranking, No. 351). According to Tyden, Berdych plans to play fewer tournaments in 2018, but be better prepared physically for each.

Source: TennisLife/On & Off Court

by **Cromar** Wed Dec 20, 2017 11:07 pm

Time will tell if those changes will have a positive impact on Coric's 2018 season. By the way, I didn't know that Ljubicic had a Management agency as well - in competition with Roger's? Wink Gif

Borna Coric: all-new team for 2018

Croatia's Borna Coric didn't just change his management agency, as Tennis.Life reported exclusively earlier this month. He has changed everything. And his new team looks exactly like Milos Raonic's old team. Coric announced over the weekend that Riccardo Piatti would be his new coach. Also on board are Dalibor Sirola and Claudio Zimaglia – both of whom also spent significant time with Raonic. Former Ana Konjuh coach Kristijan Schneider rounds it out. In addition, Coric now will be managed by Roger Federer coach Ivan Ljubicic's S.A.M. agency. Ljubicic also is a former Raonic coach.

Source: TennisLife/On & Off Court

by wcr Mon Dec 25, 2017 8:12 pm

10 days of fitness training pic.twitter.com/dnnrBLfjId
— Petra Kvitova (@Petra_Kvitova) November 25, 2017

by wcr Mon Dec 25, 2017 8:25 pm

Cromar wrote:

Time will tell if those changes will have a positive impact on Coric's 2018 season. By the way, I didn't know that Ljubicic had a Management agency as well - in competition with Roger's?

Borna Coric: all-new team for 2018

Croatia's Borna Coric didn't just change his management agency, as Tennis.Life reported exclusively earlier this month. He has changed everything. And his new team looks exactly like Milos Raonic's old team. Coric announced over the weekend that Riccardo Piatti would be his new coach. Also on board are Dalibor Sirola and Claudio Zimaglia – both of whom also spent significant time with Raonic. Former Ana Konjuh coach Kristijan Schneider rounds it out. In addition, Coric now will be managed by Roger Federer coach Ivan Ljubicic's S.A.M. agency. Ljubicic also is a former Raonic coach.

Source: TennisLife/On & Off Court

Not sure what to make of Coric's new team. Piatti has a lot of experience with good players and none of them won a slam while with him. Curious to see what changes are in store for Coric's game. He could do with more variety.

Is Ljubicic still one of Roger's coaches? How many hats does this guy wear - one with Coric (management) and the other with Roger (coach)? This strikes me as a conflict of interest. Blurred lines.

by Guest Tue Dec 26, 2017 7:46 pm

It looks as though Nadal has joined Stan and Raonic in withdrawing from Abu Dhabi.

I've read that Murray has put back his date of departure for Australia, too.
I fear he'll be forced to retire soon.

by Aprilp20n Thu Dec 28, 2017 8:46 am

Nadal has withdrawn from Brisbane. If AO is als in doubt for him, I.e. he can’t play at all, can our ranking point experts tell us how many rounds Roger has to win to get back to #1?

by **Cromar** Thu Dec 28, 2017 5:12 pm

I thought 2018 was going to be the return of everyone in top shape... looks like it may not be! Rolling Eyes

Nadal was only defending 45 points in Brisbane, so it's not a great loss for him, although it's of some help to know that he won't be making up any points.

In answer Aprilpoon's question:
If Nadal was to withdraw from the AO, he would be left with 9400 points. Roger has 9605 points at present, which means that he still would need to win the AO to keep those points and move to No 1. (A final would give Roger only 8805 points - 595 behind Nadal).

by **Cromar** Thu Dec 28, 2017 6:40 pm

Milesahead wrote:It looks as though Nadal has joined Stan and Raonic in withdrawing from Abu Dhabi.

I've read that Murray has put back his date of departure for Australia, too.
I fear he'll be forced to retire soon.

It doesn't look like it according to his latest post on FB:

by Aprilp20n Thu Dec 28, 2017 10:21 pm

Cromar wrote:

In answer Aprilpoon's question:
If Nadal was to withdraw from the AO, he would be left with 9400 points. Roger has 9605 points at present, which means that he still would need to win the AO to keep those points and move to No 1. (A final would give Roger only 8805 points - 595 behind Nadal).

Thanks Cromar for answering my question. How depressing to know, that Roger still needs to win AO to be #1! I thought Nadal’s injury would give him a free pass to #1 Mad

by Guest Fri Dec 29, 2017 1:17 pm

Cromar wrote:
Milesahead wrote:It looks as though Nadal has joined Stan and Raonic in withdrawing from Abu Dhabi.

I've read that Murray has put back his date of departure for Australia, too.
I fear he'll be forced to retire soon.

It doesn't look like it according to his latest post on FB:

Mmm, we'll see! The rumours about an arthritic condition affecting his hip are still circulating.

Djokovic has now withdrawn from AD citing elbow issues!

by Sherl Tue Jan 02, 2018 1:43 pm

^^^Things not looking good for Andy right now. Pulled out of Brisbane, and is considering surgery.

by ph∞be Tue Jan 02, 2018 4:05 pm

I felt really sad reading about Andy- I saw his FB post after I read your post, Sheri. It's too, too bad. I hope he gets better but I am not optimistic that he will be able to return to competitive tennis.

by Guest Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:09 pm

A hip replacement would signal the end of his career, sadly - however, if his problem can be rectified with another type of surgical intervention, then he's got a slim chance of a comeback.

by **Cromar** Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:42 pm

I just went to read Andy's post - It doesn't look good! Although he is still expressing 'some' hope for the AO, it doesn't really sound like we will see him there.

It's pretty sad and I feel for him! Crying

Like the 5544 others who have posted comments on his FB page, all that in just 9 hours - impressive! (here is the link if anyone is interested in reading some of the comments).

Andy Murray
9 hrs

Hey everyone.. Just wanted to write a little message on here for anyone interested in what in going through right now.

Firstly I want to apologise to @brisbanetennis for withdrawing at late notice and to everyone who wanted to come along to watch me play(or lose) The organisers couldn't have been more understanding and supportive and I'll always remember that. Thank you.

I've obviously been going through a really difficult period with my hip for a long time and have sought council from a number of hip specialists. Having been recommended to treat my hip conservatively since the US Open I have done everything asked of me from a rehab perspective and worked extremely hard to try get back on the court competing. Having played practice sets here in Brisbane with some top players unfortunately this hasn't worked yet to get me to the level I would like so I have to reassess my options. Obviously continuing rehab is one option and giving my hip more time to recover. Surgery is also an option but the chances of a successful outcome are not as I high as I would like which has made this my secondary option and my hope has been to avoid that. However this is something I may have to consider but let's hope not.

I choose this pic as the little kid inside me just wants to play tennis and Compete.. I genuinely miss it so much and i would give anything to be back out there. I didn't realise until these last few months just how much I love this game. Everytime I wake up from sleeping or napping i hope that it's better and it's quite demoralising when you get on the court it's not at the level you need it to be to compete at this level.

In the short term I'm going to be staying in Australia for the next couple of days to see if my hip settles down a bit and will decide by the weekend whether to stay out here or fly home to assess what I do next.

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to keep everyone in the loop and get this off my chest as it's really hurting inside.
Hope to see you back on the court soon.

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by wcr Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:57 pm

Nothing worse for a professional athlete than to watch everyone else do something you love just as much as them. It is the worst kind of hell and a loving family can only provide so much support. If he can ever play without surgery it would be better for him to avoid the ravages of arthritis. How he escapes deep depression over his situation is beyond me. What professional athletes endure is unimaginable.

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