Wild West Wimbledon
As seeds fell, burnout is on all fans' and players' minds
The week before Wimbledon, the Instagrams of tennis players started to light up. First came the apologies — for missing the premier tennis event of the year — then the withdrawals. And lastly, the record number of seeds that exited in the first round.
But none spoke louder than that of Australian player Daria Saville (WTA No. 137), who stated that now she had reached the ripe old age of 31 with 19 majors under her belt, her priorities had changed. Living in Australia — thousands of miles away from home — didn’t help being on the road nearly 40 weeks a year, either.
“Tennis players are taking mental health breaks. Honestly, so many players are struggling, including myself. I have not been enjoying hitting tennis balls; I have not been enjoying the process; I have not been enjoying the grind, the travel,” Saville stated on her early June Instagram post “Some people say that we are becoming soft, I don’t know. In previous years, I would just keep on grinding and feeling unhappy. But now I understand that to keep grinding is the easier thing to do and breaking the cycle of being unhappy is the hardest thing to do.
“Maybe we all just need a Jet2 Holiday.” Saville finished by lip syncing the overly familiar Jet2 Holiday advert music — a joke laced with her own truth.
I mean, who turns down Wimbledon? What player in their right mind would deny the pomp, the splendor, the grass, the notoriety of having just played there? As it turns out, a very burned out player — and Saville was not the only one. Although they showed up — and some ITF Futures and Challenger players, who have a week-in, week-out schedule that has them playing nearly 52 weeks a year have been grinding in qualifiers, too — many pros dropped like the bees high on Wimbledon flower pollen.
The carnage started with well-favoured, Coco Gauff (WTA No. 2), who had a shocker of a loss to Dayana Yastremska (WTA No. 42). But instead of three weeks of grass warm-ups, she had decided to take some time in New York and celebrate her French Open win. “Trying to get this right is like “a puzzle,” Gauff, 21, said, who had never before exited stage left in the first round of Grand Slam. “It’s the quick turnaround. You spend a long clay season, most of the seeds are going deeper in Roland Garros, and then you have to come and try to adjust to grass. It’s a tricky thing.”
But is that it, Coco? The season for the top players now stretches across 11 months, with the men’s and women’s ten best playing upwards of 60 matches across 17 tournaments (more if you’re lower ranked, as more tourneys equal more points). Casper Ruud (ATP No. 15) played 25 tournaments — the second most in the ATP year-end top 10 last season — with Alex De Minaur (ATP No. 11) third place at 23. “What’s not normal is that for the last three or four years I've had two days off, gone straight into pre-season and straight into the new season again,” De Minaur told the BBC. “Once you start, you don't finish until late November. It's just never ending. That's the sheer fact of it.”
De Minaur has a point. It used to be that the season effectively ended after the U.S. Open, but about 15 years ago, China — with its thousands of developing academies and players — wanted in on the tour, and so an Asian swing was festooned following the American hardcourt season. Add to that the Davis and Billie Jean King Cup country matches, and then the Laver Cup exhibition for men. Even if players don’t make the WTA and ATP Finals, they don’t finish until mid-October. With pre-season starting in December and the ATP and WTA Tours resuming immediately after Christmas, the total number of weeks off has fallen from about 12 to about four.
"You feel like you lose a lot if you don't show up and play — both economically, points-wise, rankings-wise and opportunity-wise," said Ruud, who has dropped about ten places this year after making the year-end tour finals for the past three years. But instead of trying to wrap up a knee injury at the All-England Club and move on, Rudd, along with French upstart, Arthur Fils (ATP No. 16), simply dropped out. “I know these weeks and months are really important for the remainder of the year and for my career. Of course, if my leg is broken, I won't play. But it's tough.”
The tours are maybe, kind of starting to get it, with the ATP saying it “understands” why its leading players are Instagramming more and more about the length of their seasons. “We’re focused on strengthening the sport by building a more premium product — one that creates more prize money, and more opportunities for players,” the ATP explained in a statement. “A key part of that vision is calendar reform. Creating a longer off-season for the players is a key objective, and we're actively exploring ways to make that a reality.”
The Wimbledon Heat/No Heat Wave:
But before the bit about ATP plans, a recap of the first week of Wimbledon, which kicked off with an unusual heat wave gripping London. Okay, a heat wave for the Brits. For the rest of Europe, facing mid-30s temps, the high-20s didn’t seem so bad. But the lack of air conditioning in England took its toll. While the higher-ranked can have comfortable air-con houses just a few blocks away from the All-England Club, many lower-ranked players stay in hotels sans the cool air. An audible sign of relief hit SW19, when a chill started coming through the window at about 11pm on Tuesday and on Wednesday, the wind changed direction.
But the weather shift was needed sooner — physically and metaphorically. “Players are getting injured,” said Reilly Opelka, former world No. 17, who endured two years of wrist surgeries before coming back just a year ago. He lost in the second round. “I was talking to Tommy (Paul) about it. Tommy got penalised for not playing Queen’s. He had a pretty serious injury at Roland Garros and couldn’t make it to Queen’s, yet he still got hit with a heavy ranking penalty. That’s why he dropped to No. 15. Because for those players, 500-level tournaments are mandatory,”
“I think a lot of guys are carrying injuries just to avoid losing their bonus or getting deductions from the bonus pool,” Opelka continued. Super-Seed Drop Monday bore out Opelka’s prediction. Stefanos Tsitsipas left London struggling with his back and without now ex-girlfriend Paula Badosa, questioning the Greek chorus whether he should continue playing. Lorenzo Musetti couldn’t get over his left adductor injury, attained on the clay. Holger Rune had knee issues. But if they made it to Day Two, nerves got the best of them. Qualifier Oliver Tarvet (ATP No. 733) lost on Centre Court against Carlos Alcaraz in the biggest match of his life, echoes of 2016 Marcus Willis and Roger Federer in the air. Katie Boulter (WTA No. 43 and now British No. 2) came out on top in the first round defeating Paula Badosa (WTA No. 9) but lost out in the second round to lucky loser Solana Sierra (WTA No. 101).
But one of the biggest surprises of all was the dropping of Jack Draper (ATP No. 4) losing to 36-year-old Marin Cilic (ATP No. 83), eight years after Cilic was runner-up here to Roger Federer. Draper could only ponder the reasons all three of his Wimbledon campaigns have foundered by the second round handshake. But the Brits still had good ol’ stalwart Cam Norrie (ATP No. 61) to take their hopes into the fourth round, which he did today by eeking out a win over Chilean Nicolás Jarry (ATP No. 143). But although Emma Raducanu (WTA No. 40) reclaimed her British No. 1 spot and put up a good fight against Aryna Sabalenka (WTA No. 1) she couldn’t get the job done. Neither could Sonay Kartal (WTA No. 51) and hot on Emma’s heels. She lost to the more experienced Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (WTA No 50), who struggled more with the electronic line calling.
And in a day of more Wimbledon-esque play before the quarterfinals begin, Andreeva defeated Emma Navarro (WTA No. 10); Iga Świątek (WTA No. 4) returned to some form over Clara Tauson (WTA No 22); and both Sabalenka and Belinda Bencic (WTA No 35) gained entry into the final eight. On the men’s side, Ben Shelton (ATP No. 10) and the eternal Novak Djokovic (ATP No. 8) advanced with Taylor Fitz (ATP No. 5) and Carlos Alcaraz (ATP No. 2), while a hopeful Grigor Dmitrov (ATP No. 21) had a two-set lead over Jannik Sinner (ATP No. 1) before injury descended again forcing him to retire. Of course, the Brits will be pulling for Norrie, who needs un milagro to dispense with Alcaraz tomorrow.
Burnout Beckoning?
Back to the tennis exhaustion. The ATP said there are "protections in place" for injured players, pointing to its Baseline programme. Coming into effect with the start of the 2024 season as part of a three-year trial, the initiative is comprised of three key pillars to ensure a greater number of players can make a sustainable living. Even if they get hurt or can’t bring themselves to take enter another airport (PTSD?). The first pillar of the programme is Minimum Guarantee, which grants Top 250-ranked singles players a minimum income level each season. If a player's prize money earnings finishes below the guaranteed threshold, the ATP covers the shortfall with an end-of-year, top-up payment. The ATP says this will empower players to plan their seasons with greater certainty, focus on their game and invest in their coaches and personal physios, as well as travel.
The ATP has Income Protection, as its second pillar — an initiative to provide support to players who play fewer than nine ATP Tour and Challenger Tour events in a season due to injury. Earnings thresholds are set at $200,000 (Top 100), $100,000 (No. 101-175) and $50,000 (No. 176-250). The ATP said this will give players financial security allowing them to focus on recovery. The last pillar, Newcomer Investment, gives $200,000 to players breaking into the Top 125 for the first time, paid in advance of the following season and offset against ATP Tour and Challenger Tour prize money earnings. Twenty-three new(ish) competitors met the Newcomer Investment criteria at the end of the 2024 season.
But ultimately, it comes down to not only money, but also pride and rankings, which affect everything from yearly earnings, to sponsorship deals, to exhibition matches, to desirability after retirement. Nineteen events count towards ATP rankings every year, while the eight best players of the season also receive points at the season-ending ATP Finals. These include four Grand Slams, eight mandatory Masters, or ATP-1000 events, and seven 'best other' tournaments — including the ATP 500, ATP 250 and Challengers. The WTA rankings are based on 18 tournaments, but the leading athletes play at least 20, including all of the Grand Slams, ten WTA-1000 events and six WTA-500 tournaments.
But again, is money or bragging rights everything? Many athletes are thinking “no” and maybe quietly quitting (or holidaying). Ons Jabuer, who took off most of the second-half of the 2024 season, seems to have enjoyed her break from tennis, so much so, that her ranking slid from the Top-Ten to WTA No. 59. Her best showing this year has been to the quarterfinals at Eastbourne two weeks ago, the Berlin Open and before that, the Qatar Total-Energies Open. Jabeur retired during her first-round Wimbledon match because of difficulty breathing.
“I wasn't expecting not to feel good. I have been practicing pretty well the last few days. But I guess these things happen,” Jabeur said. “I'm pretty sad. Doesn't really help me with my confidence and what I keep pushing myself to do even though it was a very tough season for me. I hope I can feel better.”
Things Rally Relished: New Tips for Queueing for Wimbledon
This year, hard-core fans without hook-ups to tickets entered the queue at 2 am or earlier and were able to get some of the last of the 1700 or so made available. Compared to two years ago when those setting up tents at 4am received into the 1500s, the demand has taken an upswing. So the BBC offered some handy tips on Instgram for future Queuemasters:
Try to get as much sleep as possible, but don’t expect any sleep.
Bring as much water as possible and make sure snacks are handy. Brits don’t like “hangry” foreigners.
Treat the queueing experience as a day out, not a line for tickets.
Bring cards and play cards with neighbours.
Trust the stewards; they know what they are doing.
Bring good mates, a spikeball net and a gootball.
Things Rally Reproved:
The breakup between Tsitsi-Dosa, chronicled extensively on Instagram. Tsitsipas admitted he had work to do in order to “recalibrate my mental state” and that it was on him to find solutions for his current psychological woes. “The last couple of years, especially the last two years, I feel like I have been very stressed and anxious and I only realised that now that all of this is really adding to me and it just doesn't feel like me when I'm out on the court,” he said. “I need to manage moments of uncertainty and figure it out on my own. I don't want to have external stuff that are causing those types of things. So I need to soulfully be focused on my own individuality, my own self, and let anything outside not allow any of this to distract me.” The day after he made his comments, Spanish tabloid HOLA revealed that Badosa and Tsitsipas has reached its conclusion. Although neither of them has spoken, they stopped following each other on social media — a sure sign of romance loss — and thus, ruining their mixed doubles chances at the U.S. Open. Oh Shakespeare, where art thou?
