To Avoid Injuries, Don’t Shake Up Your Routine Too Much

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ATP:  while the research focused on running, nevertheless the lessons are the same for tennis.  Overplaying, changing rackets (new or poor restrings) or playing consistently with heavy balls or in the wind can significantly increase your chance of injury!  Here’s the article—-

According to a new study of how runners hurt themselves during last year’s Covid-related lockdowns, to avoid injuries, runners should try not to change their running routines too much or too quickly.

Most runners are regrettably familiar with the aches, strains and orthopedic consults that accompany frequent running. More so than in many other recreational sports, including cycling and swimming, runners get hurt. By some estimates, up to two-thirds of runners annually sustain an injury serious enough to lame them for a week or longer.

Why runners are so fragile remains uncertain. Some studies point to sudden and substantial increases in mileage. Others find little or no correlation between mileage and injury and instead implicate intensity; ramp up your interval sessions, this science suggests, and you get hurt. Or, as other research indicates, concrete paths could be to blame, or thick-soled running shoes, or minimalist models, or possibly treadmills, group runs, oddball running form or simple bad luck.

But a group of exercise scientists at Auburn University in Alabama and other institutions felt skeptical of the focus of much past research, which often aimed to isolate a single, likely cause for running-related damage. As runners themselves, the researchers suspected that most injuries involve a complex network of triggers, some obvious, others subtle, with elusive interactions between them. They also recognized that until we better understand why running injuries happen, we cannot hope to forestall them.

Then came the pandemic, which abruptly and profoundly changed so much about our lives, including, for many of us, how we run. In the face of lockdowns, anxiety and remote work and schooling, we began running more or less than before. Or harder or more gently, perhaps without our usual partners, and on unfamiliar ground.

Sensing that such a wide-ranging array of hasty and intermingled shifts in people’s running patterns might provide a natural experiment in how we hurt ourselves, the researchers decided to ask runners what had happened to them during lockdown.

So, for the new study, which was published in June in the journal Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, they set up a series of extensive online questionnaires delving into people’s lifestyles, occupations, moods, running habits and running injuries, before and during local pandemic-related lockdowns. They then invited adults with any running experience to respond, whether they were recreational joggers or competitive racers.

More than 1,000 men and women replied, and their responses were illuminating to the researchers. About 10 percent of the 1,035 runners reported having injured themselves during lockdown, with a few individual risk factors popping out from the data. Runners who increased the frequency of their intense workouts tended to hurt themselves, for example, as did those who moved to trails from other surfaces, presumably because they were unfamiliar with or tentative on the trails’ uneven terrain.

Runners who reported less time to exercise during the lockdown also faced heightened risks for injury, perhaps because they traded long, gentle workouts for briefer, harsher ones, or because their lives, in general, felt stressful and worrisome, affecting their health and running.

But by far the greatest contributor to injury risk was modifying an established running schedule in multiple, simultaneous ways, whether that meant increasing — or reducing — weekly mileage or intensity, moving to or from a treadmill, or joining or leaving a running group. The study found that runners who made eight or more alterations to their normal workouts, no matter how big or small those changes, greatly increased their likelihood of injury.

And interestingly, people’s moods during the pandemic influenced how much they switched up their running. Runners who reported feeling lonely, sad, anxious or generally unhappy during the lockdown tended to rejigger their routines and increase their risk for injury, notably more than those who reported feeling relatively calm.

Taken as a whole, the data suggests that “we should look at social components and other aspects of people’s lives” when considering why runners — and probably people who engage in other sports as well — get hurt, says Jaimie Roper, a professor of kinesiology at Auburn University and the new study’s senior author. Moods and mental health likely play a greater role in injury risk than most of us might expect, she said.

This study relies, though, on the memories and honesty of a self-selected group of runners, who were willing to sit in front of a computer answering intrusive questions. They may not be representative of many of us. The study was also observational, meaning it tells us that runners who changed their workouts also happened often to be runners with injuries, but not that the changes necessarily directly caused those injuries.

Perhaps most important, the results do not insinuate that we should always try to avoid tweaking our running routines. Rather, “be intentional in what you change,” Dr. Roper says. “Focus on one thing at a time,” and thread in changes gradually. Up mileage, for instance, by only 10 or 20 percent a week and add a single, new interval session, not three. And if you are feeling particularly stressed, perhaps hold steady on your exercise for now, sticking with whatever familiar workouts feel tolerable and fun.

To Avoid Running Injuries, Don’t Shake Up Your Routine Too Much
www.nytimes.com/2021/06/30/well/move/prevent-running-injuries.html

[The Washington Post] Barbora Krejcikova honors late coach and wins a French Open filled with twists and upsets

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The unseeded Krejcikova, 25, whose name was on no one’s mind at the start of the French Open, was crowned its champion after a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 victory.

The brilliant Justine Henin and Martina Navratilova, with 25 Grand Slam singles titles between them, looked on from the stands.

Her late coach, Jana Novotna, surely watched from above.
And following along from home in the Czech Republic was Barbora Krejcikova’s mother, who gave her daughter the courage to knock on Novotna’s door as a teenager and ask the 1998 Wimbledon champion for help with her tennis.
Krejcikova, 25, had drawn inspiration and strength from all these women since childhood — and never more so than Saturday at Roland Garros, where she weathered a tough patch midway through the French Open final to claim her first Grand Slam title with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Paris.


It was only fitting that Krejcikova used the glorious moment, microphone in hand, to honor all the mentors and role models whose presence — whether in body or spirit — gave her strength and inspiration.
“Pretty much her last words to me were, ‘Just enjoy and just try to go win a Grand Slam,’” 

Krejcikova told the crowd during her on-court interview, recalling the difficult time she spent with Novotna, losing her battle with cancer, as she slipped away in 2017 at age 49. “I know somewhere, she is looking out for me. This happened pretty much because she is looking out for me.”
Krejcikova’s name was on no one’s mind at the start of the French Open.


Nor was Pavlyuchenkova’s, apart from avid tennis fans who might have remembered her promise as the world’s top-ranked junior at age 14.
But a tennis lifetime had come and gone since then. One month shy of her 30th birthday, the 31st-seeded Pavlyuchenkova was as unlikely a French Open finalist as the unseeded Krejcikova, known until recently as strictly a doubles specialist.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/06/12/krejcikova-pavlyuchenkova-french-open-women-final/

French Open 2021: Djokovic Beats Nadal in Men’s Semifinal

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Novak Djokovic, the world No. 1, outlasted Rafael Nadal, the “King of Clay,” in four sets, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2, in a match that felt like it should have been a final.

PARIS — “He brings out the best in me.”

That’s what Novak Djokovic said the other night about Rafael Nadal, the 13-time winner of the French Open and the man he would be facing in the semifinal in just under 48 hours.

Djokovic needed his best, and then some, Friday night as he beat Nadal on the court he has treated like his living room since 2005. The score, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3, reflected a wild match that produced some of the most remarkable tennis in years.

In beating Nadal at the French Open, Djokovic pulled off what known as the hardest feat in tennis. Nadal was 105-2 at Roland-Garros and had not lost there since 2015. Djokovic had his number that time too. There is a statue of Nadal outside Court Phillippe Chatrier. During this tournament, his fellow players speak of him with a kind of reverence usually reserved for legends of the past.

And that was how Djokovic spoke of his longtime rival moments after Nadal’s final backhand sailed wide.

“The first thing I want to say was it was my privilege also to be on the court with Rafa for this incredible match,” Djokovic said. “It is surely the greatest match I have played here in Paris.”

Djokovic will face Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in the final on Sunday. Tsitsipas will be playing in his first Grand Slam singles final. Djokovic will be playing for his 19th Grand Slam singles title. A win would bring him within one of Nadal and Roger Federer, who are tied with 20.

It would also put him in solid position to win all four Grand Slams in a single year, something that no man has accomplished in more than 50 years. He won the Australian Open in February and he is the defending champion at Wimbledon, which begins in two weeks. It is a title he has won five times, and he has won 12 Grand Slam titles on hard courts, including three at the United States Open, which will take place in New York at the end of the summer.

It was a match that had everything, even a looming curfew of 11 p.m. that threatened to send the crowd of 5,000 people home in the middle of an epic duel.

Instead, at the conclusion of the third-set tiebreaker, French officials delivered one of the great moments of the pandemic. As the set ended, an announcement was made that an exception had been granted and the fans could remain to see the conclusion of what would either be an upset for the ages or one of the great escapes in the history of the game.

Suddenly, a crowd of 5,000 sounded like one 10 times as large. There was chanting and dancing in the aisles — “Merci Macron” they sang, showing their gratitude to the French president — there were hugs and high-fives, which have been in short supply during a mostly miserable year and a half for sports and much of the rest of the world.

In truth, forcing the crowd to leave would have been cruel after what it had witnessed during the previous three-and-a-half-hours, including a 91-minute third set, in which Nadal seemed to have mounted the beginning of his great escape before Djokovic snuffed it out.

Matches between Djokovic and Nadal are unlike anything else in the sport. Every moment has a crucial feel to it because they both provide so little margin for error for their opponents.

Miss a first serve and the second one is likely to come back down your throat. Leave that deep volley just slightly too far inside the baseline and there’s an unseeable crosscourt angle they will find on a point that looked over just a second before.

Diego Schwartzman, who had lost to Nadal in the quarterfinals, tweeted a question as he watched: “Do we tennis players play the same sport as the two of them?”

This match, the 58th time the two have met, was a four-hour display of tennis one-upmanship.

A near-perfect, running lob from Djokovic was met with a wild sky hook overhead from Nadal. Forehands hit on impossibly tight angles were returned by backhands on even tighter ones. Nadal would hit a drop shot that would settle within three feet of the net. Djokovic would send it back nearly parallel to the net a foot closer. Violently slicing serves met untouchable crosscourt returns.

Nadal had the initial edge, surging to a 5-0 lead that felt eerily familiar to the start of his blowout win over Djokovic in the French Open last year.

ImageNadal during the first set.
Credit…Pete Kiehart for The New York Times

Early on, Nadal returned two overheads then won a duel at the net. The crowd exploded as it always does when Nadal is doing his thing at Roland-Garros. Djokovic appeared staggered, but he dug in and began to battle, even saving set point after set point.

As the second set began, Djokovic grew more comfortable with every game. If the hardest thing in tennis is to beat Nadal at Roland-Garros, the second hardest may be dealing with Djokovic’s return of serve. All night long he pelted it at Nadal’s feet, forcing him back as he tried to push forward.

But with Djokovic sprinting ahead and serving at 5-4 in the third set, and needing just two points for a commanding lead, Nadal made two down-the-line winners that seemed to foretell a great escape. He broke Djokovic, and he had a set point two games later, but he frittered away a golden opportunity on Djokovic’s second serve. Then in the tiebreaker, he missed a wide-open forehand volley to give Djokovic a 5-3 lead.

“I had the big chance,” Nadal said when it was over. “I missed it and an easy volley in the tie break. These kinds of mistakes can happen but if you want to win you can’t make these mistakes.”

Nadal mounted one last attempt to rescue himself from the rarest sort of loss for him, breaking Djokovic in the first game of the fourth set and grabbing a 2-0 lead. He pumped his fists at the crowd, urging them to give him some intangible edge. Instead, Djokovic played his most dominant tennis of the night, winning the final six games.

When Nadal’s last backhand sailed wide, Djokovic looked to the sky, bent over and grabbed a bit of red clay and rubbed it on his shirt.

Nadal has made very few mistakes like that missed volley over the years at Roland-Garros. Djokovic said the pressure of playing Nadal on what he described as “his court” is unlike anything he has ever felt. “Each time you step on the court with him you know you have to basically climb Mount Everest to win against him,” said Djokovic, who was 1-7 against Nadal at the French Open before Friday night.

That pressure though is the sort of sensation that keeps both him and Nadal pushing each other on the court in their mid-30s, an age when tennis greats of a previous era have called it a career.

“It was one of those matches, that we really play tennis for,” he said. “It inspires us.”

By Matthew Futterman