Life on Tour

Two years ago I had the opportunity to drive across the country and cover the sport that I love; tennis. Never before had I been credentialed media at professional events, and I was looking forward to seeing the everyday life on tour for over a month. I covered every level of pro tennis. From the very lowest level, Futures tournaments, to the pinnacle of the sport, the US Open. Throughout these four weeks I found myself ingulfed in an aspect of the sport I never imagined would interest me; injuries, doctors, medical timeouts and health disparities. Staying in the same hotels as the players and tournament officials, you get to know people simply through chance. Take, for example, Ilya Marchenko(pictured above) from Ukraine. We met in Atlanta, at a 250 level ATP tour event. These events are comprised of players ranked from 20-120 in the world. It's the lowest level on tour, but it's certainly a step up from the "minor leagues" of pro tennis. Marchenko has maintained a ranking around 100 in the world for many years, but has never been able to break through.

He qualified for the tournament, but was carrying a heavy left knee injury into his first round match. He has had many injury problems over the years, and the doctor here didn't seem to be able to do much for him. Marchenko wold later tell me at the US Open that he received far superior treatment. This shouldn't come as a huge surprise, given that millions of dollars are poured into the Grand Slams. Still, it made me think about the opportunities lower ranked players have when they are injured or sick. With less time, money and resources, the smaller tournaments struggle to give players the neccessary tools to diagnose and treat injuries. At the top level, however, there are multiple high level doctors and trainers to provide every possible solution to injury or illness. Marchenko was not the only player who had this expereince. Andrei Daescu, who I worked with for two years at Cornell, recently won a wild card tournement into the main draw of the mixed doubles draw at the US Open. In his final matches of the wild card tournament, he said that his shoulder was about to fall off. He had the same injury earlier in his career. He felt that it was inivetibale that he would have to play through excructiating pain. He won his final match and was into the US Open. Immediately upon entering the players lounge, he signed up for treatment on his shoulder. When I met up with him a few hours later, he was praising the efforts of the doctors in New York, saying he never had treatment that effective on his recurring right shoulder injury. He even mentioned that if he could constantly receive that sort of treatment, then he could return to the tour and play professionally full time again. These experiences stuck with me as I left that one month adventure covering the tour. The best players are receiving the best treatment and diagnosis, while the lesser players are left with whatever they can find; and less money to pay for it.