Kvitova Attacked

Petra Kvitova underwent surgery on her left hand to repair tendons severed on Tuesday morning by a knife wielding would-be burglar.  Kvitova is a left handed player with a two handed backhand, so the injury will certainly take her off the tour for awhile.  The man got away with £155 but interrupted a career worth millions.  So Petra was robbed of quite a bit of money, and the rest of the tennis world was robbed of the pleasure of seeing her play.

The news so far indicates that Kvitova will recover both physically and emotionally, both of which are important, as the previous stabbing of Monica Seles illustrates so well.  We’ll have to wait and see how she does, of course.  If wishing her well does any good, she will recover quickly, because she is very well liked by the players and revered by many fans, and thus she has millions of people pulling for her.

Violence is such a degrading and depressing thing!

Tennis offseason

Late in the year, when the year-end championships are approaching, players and tennis commentators frequently point out what a long year it’s been and how tired the players are.  They frequently suggest that the season be shortened.  But then, haha(!), many players play a lot of exhibition matches throughout the offseason.  So what happened to their need for a rest? 

My own opinion is that players want relief from having their earnings linked to match results, as occurs in tournaments, and instead want those guaranteed appearance fees for play that doesn’t affect their rankings.  Exhibitions are great for players who can earn some bucks with nothing on the line for them.

There is nothing wrong with this system.  After all, what’s wrong with giving these great players the opportunity to show off their skills in a low pressure environment, particularly if someone is willing to pay them for doing it?  I do think,  however, that the offseason could be improved a bit as follows:

I think one 250 event should be scheduled in the offseason, perhaps at a sight that is vying for a chance to host an in-season tournament in the future.  A 250 event could be skipped by the top ranked players without risk of losing their seedings in big tournaments etc., and would, at the same time, give lower ranked players a chance to earn a few points that would be valuable to them in the upcoming season.  Just a few points could allow a player who is “on the bubble” the chance for direct entry into a future tournament.

One other minor improvement – stop going on all of the time about how physically taxing the tennis season is!  If the players were really tired they would actually rest!!