This Week in Tennis – 10/8/12

This week we are back to the Masters 1000 series with the Shanghai Masters in China. The tournament actually got underway on Sunday. Everyone but Nadal will be playing there, who is busy playing poker and taking a vaction. It is very understandable that he has no desire to play right now. Many players before him such as Borg, Henin, Clijsters, Capriati, McEnroe, Agassi, this list goes on and on, suffered varying degrees of “Burn out.” A few guys like Federer and Connors truly enjoy the game, other just treat it as a job and get sick of it. Tennis players are made not born; it is an acquired talent in which you must start at a very young age and do the same thing over and over and over to succeed. After many years of doing this, some players would rather be doing anything but hitting a tennis ball. Some turn to drugs and partying, some quit, some get married. Bottom line is if you are a half intelligent person you soon realize that you are not growing as a person playing this silly sport.

Some make it back into the game after some time off to explore other aspects of life. I was in and out of retirement for 11 years from the age of 26-37.I would take time off to do other things, but after a short sabbatical I’d always rerun to the thing I did best, and then started playing with a smile on my face. I played one satellite in Kansas City one year, and was one of the best players there. I had already been on tour for two years and most of the other guys were young college players. I was playing a guy with a big serve, and the score was tied at 2-2 in the first set and I just walked off the court. My back was killing me, I could barely stand up, I slept in the airport the night before and was woken up when a rat ran across my chest and realized I was going back to finish up college in a few months and my career was over anyway. I just wanted to be anywhere but on that court. I just shook his hand and said nice match. Years later I went over to France and won my last tournament, because I wanted to be there, not because I had to be there.

This is what Nadal is going through right now. Sure he’s slightly injured but he is a multi-millionaire who has won multiple Grand slams and has been number one. He would much rather be playing poker and hanging out on the beaches in Mallorca then banging heads with the other top guys, now that he can’t dominate them anymore. He might be back for the clay court season in Europe next year, because he loves that, but don’t expect to see him play anytime soon.

There were two tourneys played last week in which Djokovic beat Tsonga in China and Nishikori beat Raonic in Japan. This week don’t forget to call up America’s Bookie and win some money on The Shanghai Masters. America’s Bookie is the best place for you tennis betting needs. See you later in the week to talk about the Semis and Finals.