Three-time grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka believes the spike of high profile injuries last year was due to the players themselves and not the scheduling of the tour.
In recent months calls have been made to adjust the men’s calendar following a series of injury problems hitting some of the top players on the tour. Novak Djokovic, Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic and Andy Murray were just some of those to be affected. Another casualty was Rafael Nadal, who was forced to retire from his quarter-final match at the Australian Open. Shortly after, the world No.1 urged organisers to rethink the scheduling of the tour because it was putting players at risk.
“Somebody who is running the tour should think a little bit about what’s going on,” Nadal said last month.
“[There are] too many people getting injured. I don’t know if they have to think a little bit about the health of the players.”
Despite Nadal’s calls, Wawrinka has dismissed the concerns. The Swiss 32-year-old was also affected by injury last year and underwent surgery on his knee. Speaking to the media at the Sofia Open on Wednesday, the Swiss player argues that it is up to the players themselves to plan their calendar. Easing the criticism aimed at the ATP, who governs men’s tennis.
“We can all choose a little bit how much to play. Yeah, there are some mandatory tournaments, but the rest of the year we can adapt and to choose to play more or less.” Wawrinka argues.
“I think that most of the injuries last year were because we have been playing for twelve-fifteen years. This was a sort of normal.
“The most important is to look every case separate and to adapt, to choose not to overplay.”
Wawrinka’s comments mirror ones that have previously been said by Roger Federer and Marin Cilic. During 2017, at least seven top 20 players experienced an injury issue at some point. Out of the seven, only two of those were under the age of 30 – Nishikori and Raonic.
Recently the ATP released their calendar for next year with no changes to the structure that has been used since 2009. It will feature nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, 13 ATP World Tour 500 events, and 39 ATP World Tour 250 tournaments. On top of that will be the season-ending ATP Finals at the O2 Arena in London.
