Tennis: They are victims of inconsistency
PrashantNews
Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer remained the most consistent tennis players in recent times. The only factor that became their handicap was their age. However, there were others who tried to reach the top but the inconsistency pushed them down.
At the young age of 25, the ranking of Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas has taken a nosedive in the past one-two years. After peaking in 2021 when he was on No 3, his current ranking has fallen to 11. In the Australian Open early this year, Tsitsipas was ousted in the last 16. But everything is not yet lost for Tsitsipas. He may be looking forward to regain his form.
The general trend is that once you start losing, it becomes very difficult to recover. There are many top players who once looked very promising but lost steam over the years. Andy Murray (Britain), Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland), Dominic Thiem (Austria), Matteo Berrettini (Italy) and Milos Raonic (Canada), the list goes on. What went wrong with these players? In most of the cases, they couldn’t recover from the nagging injuries and the problem of inconsistency.
Experts say a consistent player is one who reliably performs at a certain level regardless of the circumstances. An inconsistent player performs well sometimes and not so-well other times, and the performance is hard to predict, they say.
After winning two Olympic gold medals and two Wimbledon tiles, Murray is keen to play in the Paris Olympics before hanging up his boots. Once a top seed, the 36-year-old British player has faced difficulties in securing victories lately, currently holding a rank of 67th in the world. The main reason behind Murray’s downfall is stated to be his nagging hip injury from which he never fully recovered.
The Economist once described Wawrinka (38) as ‘tennis great latecomer”. After winning three grand slams, Wawrinka’s knee injuries has troubled him a lot and almost finished his career. He is currently no 60 in the world ranking.
After covid, knee injury and struggling form, Thiem (30) didn’t recover well. Once considered as tough opponent by Rafa, the life of this Austrian was a roller coaster ride as he once even won the US open. At the Wimbledon, he lost to 5th seed Tsitsipas in a grueling 5-set in 1st round thriller last year. Buoyed by his performance, he left the match with high hopes. “…I think I still can compete with the best. I am leaving here with my head held high,” he said. However, he could not perform well in the US Open last year and the Australian Open this year.
Similarly, Berrittini (27) and Raonic (33) also remained inconsistent. After beating Federer in the 2016 semifinal at Wimbledon and achieving no 3 ranking in the same year, Raonic’s downfall was swift. Similarly, Berrittini reached the final of the Wimbledon in 2021 but suddenly slumped to the low. He is 125 in the current ranking. Ends