By Erik Gudris | Monday, February 22, 2016

 

An eventful week saw WTA seeds scatter in Dubai, the return of a Grand Slam champion, and more early season woes for Rafael Nadal.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

February is usually a quiet month in tennis, at least in terms of eyebrow raising results and news. But last week certainly provided several stories that could well impact both tours for the rest of the season.

WTA Seeds Scatter in Dubai

Last week’s WTA premier event in Dubai was likely one the tournament will want to forget soon. Though Dubai usually attracts a packed field, Serena Williams, Angelique Kerber and Agnieszka Radwanska withdrew before the event got underway due to illness and injury. Then seeded players, including top seed Simona Halep, fell by the wayside to the point where there were only unseeded players left by the quarterfinals. In the final, Italy’s Sara Errani routed a nervous Barbora Strycova 6-0, 6-2 in just over an hour.

Some diehard WTA watchers chalked it up to the overall parity right now in the women’s tour, as evidenced last month when a similar scenario played out at the Australian Open. Others though suggested that many WTA players are already dealing with mounting injuries or fatigue despite having a quote “off-season” starting for many last October. An article in the Guardian UK had many, including Jelena Jankovic, discussing on frank terms the need in the off-season for many players to train, sometimes even overtrain, to prepare for the rigors of the grueling week-in, week-out non-stop tour.

While every player is left up to decide for themselves how much time they want to play or not, maybe it’s time for the WTA to once again revisit its overall schedule, especially for these mid-tier events happening in-between the majors. Do events like Dubai and Doha, somewhat like the ATP 500 events on the men’s side in terms of points and prize money, really need to have super-packed draws filled with top 20 players? How many ATP 500 events we you see, especially if not before a major, almost filled to the brim with every top 20 player? If the 2016 season ends up filled with more WTA events dealing with multiple injury and illness withdrawals, the tour may be forced to address the issue since it ultimately impacts all events.

The only one who likely won’t forget Dubai is Errani herself. After winning her biggest career title, Errani later revealed that she almost skipped the event to give herself a week of rest. Talk about irony.

Del Potro Delights Delray Beach

Juan Martin Del Potro finally showed up on a tennis court to the delight of tennis watchers. The former US Open champion made his long awaited return at the Delray Beach event having undergone a year of rehab in 2015 after yet another wrist surgery.

Del Potro started off his comeback against Denis Kudla in a match, which despite being one-sided in Del Potro’s favor, saw the Argentine hit multiple slice backhands. Probably the most he’s ever hit in his life in a tennis match. Was Del Potro afraid to really hit a two-handed backhand for fear of feeling pain again in those tender wrists? That question was soon answered with “no” as Del Potro starting hitting more two-handers along with cracking that fearsome forehand of his, often by positioning himself on court to only hit forehands.

Del Potro made it to the semifinals where he ran out of gas against eventual event champion Sam Querrey. Del Potro will next play in Indian Wells where many are anticipating him possibly playing one of the tour’s biggest names. While expectations are high for Del Potro, he’s been down the comeback road before. Where it leads him is anyone’s guess. But as shown by the massive support he received in Florida, the tour is certainly glad to have one of its biggest stars back on the courts again.

Nadal Skids Out of Rio

For fans of Rafael Nadal, the hope was that the “king of clay” would find his footing this season by tasting success on the red clay of South America once again. Yet, Nadal ended up leaving both the Buenos Aires and Rio events with even more questions on where his 2016 season is headed.

In the Rio semifinals, Nadal grinded through an over three hour marathon only to lose to No. 45 ranked Pablo Cuevas. Nadal, during the slog of a semi, often showed poor footwork, overplayed the drop shot, and generally just seemed to run out of ideas on how to beat Cuevas who ended up winning the event.

While Nadal’s loss the other week to Dominic Thiem in Buenos Aires didn’t seem as bad given the rising talent of the young Austrian, this loss in Rio has got to hurt. Not only because Nadal looked almost certain to win the title, but that he should have figured out someway to defeat Cuevas. Nadal’s fans took to social media just after to express their angst over Nadal’s defeat and his current less than stellar year that includes a first round loss at the Australian Open to Fernando Verdasco.

Nadal could certainly turn things around at the upcoming U.S. hard courts events in Indian Wells and Miami. Yet, while Nadal has struggled with physical woes, these recent losses seem to point again to a lack of confidence, especially in the toughest moments. While it’s easy to say Nadal’s days as a top five player are over, it’s probably best to take a wait and see attitude.

Tennis has a way of giving its greatest champions one more day, so to speak, to shine brightest just when you think they can’t. Nadal, and his many fans, will certainly hope his shining moment is just around the corner.