What is it about this year's clay-court season that is making the men of the ATP Tour look like such pansies? These guys are playing at some of the biggest tournaments of the year, for major money, ranking points and bragging rights. And they are quitting midway through quarters, semis and finals! I can't remember a retirement rash this bad since I started watching the sport. This goes way beyond Andy Roddick and Radek Stepanek both giving up in today's Rome semifinals. Take a look at the list of players who've tapped out on the dirt this season, not including those men who withdrew prior to playing a match:

 Estoril

No. 3 seed Ivo Karlovic retires in first round, trailing wild card Rui Machado 6-4, 1-0.

No. 5 seed Gilles Simon retires in second round, trailing Flavio Cipolla 6-2, 5-3.

No. 2 seed Nikolay Davydenko retires in final, trailing Roger Federer 7-6(5), 1-2.

Valencia

Steve Darcis retires in first round, trailing Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 0-0.

Qualifier Christophe Rochus retires in first round, trailing Eduardo Schwank 6-2, 2-0.

Yuri Schukin retires in first round, trailing Robin Haase 6-4, 4-1.

No. 8 seed Potito Starace retires in quarterfinal, trailing Tommy Robredo 6-3, 3-0.

Monte Carlo Masters Series

Sebastien Grosjean retires in first round, trailing Ivo Karlovic 4-6, 6-4, 4-1.

Tommy Haas retires in first round, trailing qualifier Olivier Rochus 6-1, 3-0.

No. 11 seed Juan Monaco retires in second round, trailing Nicolas Almagro 6-2, 3-0.

No. 8 seed Mikhail Youzhny retires in second round, trailing Igor Andreev 6-3, 0-0.

No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic retires in semifinal, trailing Roger Federer 6-3, 3-2.

Barcelona

Jose Acasuso retires in first round, trailing No. 16 seed Feliciano Lopez 5-2.

Ivo Minar retires in first round, trailing qualifier Marc Lopez 3-1.

Janko Tipsarevic retires in first round, trailing Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 4-2.

Lucky loser Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo retires in first round, trailing Denis Gremelmayr 7-6(7), 2-1.

Viktor Troicki retires in first round, trailing No. 10 seed Nicolas Almagro 6-2, 0-0.

Qualifier Marc Lopez retires in second round, trailing Juan Ignacio Chela 5-1.

Rome Masters Series

Qualifier Juan Martin del Potro retires in first round, trailing No. 16 seed Andy Murray 5-7, 6-4, 1-0.

No. 12 seed Fernando Gonzalez retires in Round of 16, giving Nicolas Almagro a walkover.

Nicolas Almagro retires in quarterfinal, trailing No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic 6-1, 1-0.

Radek Stepanek retires in semifinal, trailing No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic 6-0, 1-0.

No. 6 seed Andy Roddick retires in semifinal, trailing Stanislas Wawrinka 3-0.

And ladies and gentlemen, I hate to jinx the Rome championship match, but it's hard to forget that Djokovic retired against Wawrinka once before in a clay court final: 2006 Umag in the middle of a first set tiebreak!

-Josh

 

 

 

 

On a surface like clay, which should be forgiving on the body unlike the hard courts. 

Richard Evans has nailed it. The racquets and strings plus this back court style of play where you power the ball with a lot of lower back motion is killing the sport. These are fit young men with trainers and yet  the tour is resembling some on court emergency room. I am tired of the calls for trainers and the tears and the limp handshake at the net after defaults.

And John Alexander is right. The Har Tru surface at Forest Hills was far more forgiving as was grass and clay. This is a true turning point in the game plus the schedule and the fact that players are independent contractors and often play more than is wise.. If a player defaults he should have his prize money withheld until a "reputable" not tournament doctor evaluates his condition. He should also be fined with non compliance of his contract to play. Why should he get paid when I got stiffed for my tickets which I bought in good faith?

I realize sometimes players cannot go on. Those blisters on Nadal's feet were horrifying but this is  real epidemic. I am tired of constant calls for trainers and the teary limp handshakes after defaults. Change the surface, cut the schedule and give the fans their due. I bet the French won't be so nice as the Italians fans were when they get six or seven defaults in their tourney.

And take a good luck the way players are being taught. Even juniors are having their bodies broken down by coaches who do not teach tactics but value only the big swinging power game. Fed may be going through a bit of a slump but he should be studied in depth for his lack of injuries. His balance, his all court game and even his service motion do not inflict significant  damage to his body. Edberg had a classical game and was seldom injured. Agassi honed his body to handle the stress of the tour. This is turning point in our sport and if the tour can't handle it I see no future.

Rome has been a disaster.

Tennis as a whole is a disaster. :-(

There might be  less injuries  if the players didn't do all the exhibitions. When they aren't  at  a tournament they fly  all  over  the world to do  exos  for the big  money they  get  for  showing  up.

Awesome summary.

 

It wouldn't be tough to limit bailouts.

 

1.  Increase prize money.  Tennis players get nothing compared to golfers. etc

2. Guys who don't finish....  just give them a MANDATORY three weeks off to recover from whatever problem they claim

3.  Second term for retiring before the match is over..........   ZERO POINTS.  When I don't finish my job I don't get paid, why should they?

 There's an obvious problem as you so well illustrate.  If the ATP can stroke Hamburg by taking away it's whole tournament then why don't they step up to the plate for their players too. 

Finally, all that said, if a player doesn't finish don't penalize him.  Just don't reward him.  Fining Henin did nothing to her.  Her sponsors probably did a predeal for her to guarantee that her the money, whatever.  If the prize money was big then the players would show up and play harder- guaranteed.  Losing a match just doesn't cost a player enough for them to care.

 

If the tour wants to continue to provide competitive matches at lesser tournaments then they are going to have to manage the situation a bit better.

Josh,

 

Great post, although kind of sad to see how many retirements there have been thus far. Even more than the women's tour!!  What is up? 

 

The tour does *really* need to address this, as Richard Evans pointed out. It's happening too often for it to be a phase or coincidence.  Fans and sponsors (and TV network execs) will take notice, and it's going to have a negative effect on the game.

 

Not that I want someone to ever retire, but funny how no one ever retires when leading in a match!? 

 

Perhaps it's a sign of the times. I hear you can be an "uncanny competitor" if you play mind games and walk away from matches when you're losing.  

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