Summer is usually a time when most working folk find some way to take a much needed vacay or even a long weekend to unwind after a long slog through the spring. And while many on the ATP Tour continually complain that their season is too long resulting in greater chances for burnout or injury, it doesn’t look like that three of the four top men are putting their nose to the grindstone as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray have all been spotted in the last week or so relaxing either at a beach, poolside or on a golf course. And though you can’t blame Nadal for wanting a bit of a break after his long winning streak on the clay courts and at both the French Open and Wimbledon, all three men and their limited schedule this summer doesn’t exactly help their continued calls for a shorter season.
Murray along with on-again, off-again, now on-again girlfriend Kim Sears were spotted poolside at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas this week where it appears Murray was more interested in his Nintendo that his lady who sported a two-piece bikini. In any event, onlookers said the couple looked relaxed and enjoyed themselves. And it’s not like Murray, Federer (who vacationed last week with wife Mirka and their family) or Nadal (who’s back in Majorca after celebrating Spain’s World Cup win in South Africa) need to pick up their racquets right away as all three are next scheduled to return to the Rogers Cup in Toronto which is three weeks away, plenty of time for their bodies and psyches to heal in time for the hard courts. I’m sure all three will get some practice in before then, but if any one of them starts up with this “the season is so long, we have no time off” diatribe, just show them their holiday photos.
Meanwhile, along with continuing action at the German Open in Hamburg which has top seed Nikolay “I can’t say no to a tournament” Davydenko continuing on despite the string of withdrawals and early round upsets, the U.S. Open Series is literally slogging along as early round action at the Atlanta Tennis Championships kicked off in steamy Atlanta this week. Veteran Taylor Dent, after winning a tough three set battle against James Blake, continued his comeback run by taking out the No. 4 seed Horacio Zeballos 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 to reach his first ATP Tour quarterfinal since 2005. But the biggest news and excitement was, of course, the return of Georgia Bulldog John Isner to the courts. Isner lived up to his “marathon man” nickname with a 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 win over Gilles Muller that had Isner save several match points in both the second and third sets before pulling out the tight match to the delight of the Atlanta crowd. Andy Roddick, who took a last minute wildcard, will play tomorrow night against American Rajeev Ram.
Despite the surprise appearance of Roddick in Atlanta, many feel that Roddick needs more match play after his earlier than expected loss at Wimbledon to get him his game in gear for the U.S. Open. And with Novak Djokovic showing up for some early match play in Los Angeles next week, it may be that U.S. Open could be decided between those who choose to grind it out all summer in hopes of getting their games fine tuned early and those who needed to take some time off in hopes that the rest will give them that last bit of extra gas in the only American city where having a car is a pain in the you know what.
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It’s good that the top guys are taking a break; they deserve one after these past few grueling months of tennis.
It’s nice to see Dent win that match against Blake and then follow it up with a win over Zeballos. At the same time, I hope Blake can get his game back on at some point.
Don’t understand what’s your problem with 3 top guys having a week or two of summer vacation? They were the ones who went all the way to the quarters/semis/finals all year.
Those various others slogging it in the meantime at Bastaad, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Atlanta etc. – didn’t.
Top guys do not argue for a shorter season as in “let’s cancel some torunaments”, they argue for a lesser number of mandatory tournaments. Those who regularly never reach quarters/semis/finals can happily proceed participating in each tournament under the sun, just as they are doing now. There would be no zero pointers or penalty exclusions from next same-level tournaments for those who choose to participate in, say, 16 instead of 18 tournaments a year.
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