Groin pulls, pullouts and other tennis' ailments

Less than five days from the start of the first leg of tennis' Grand Slam, the Australian Open, we're already down two marquee players with the likelihood of others announcing early withdrawal. For starters, last year's finalist, Justine Henin-Hardenne, has withdrawn from this year's contest for personal reasons. Then there's Venus Williams, out due to a recurring wrist injury. And Rafael Nadal looks either hopeful or doubtful, depending on whether you're a glass half-full or half-empty sort. Also, Nikolay Davydenko might yet withdraw with a foot injury, as might Anastasia Myskina.

Rafa pulled up lame in his lead-up event, citing a groin pull, which started the tennis community talking. Was he really injured? Or is he saving himself for the Slam? No matter how you slice it, it doesn't bode well for tennis, in general. Too many name players injured or claiming injury, withdrawing from Slams or retiring in the middle of lead-up events to save themselves for the Slams. The latter is preferable, of course, because it at least demonstrates a desire on the part of players to be in top form for the Slams.

But there's an underlying problem that is not being sufficiently dealt with, and it's complicated. First, you have the schedule of events and the length of the season. Holding a Grand Slam tournament in the third and fourth week of the new season is ludicrous. It's akin to Major League Baseball scheduling the American and National League Championship Series games in April, at the conclusion of the preseason exhibitions. No one in their right mind would ever consider proposing that. Add in the sheer length of the season, some 42-46 weeks for the world's best players — longer for those in the "minor leagues" — and you've got a recipe for disaster. All elite athletes need time to rest and repair their broken-down bodies, regroup their efforts and get back into their training routine, and retool their arsenal and add to their games. Rest. Repair. Regroup. Retool.

Were some miracle to occur, were the stars to align and a Commissioner of Tennis be appointed who had the power to makeover the schedule, much of tennis' troubles would persist. Why? Two words: appearance money. Call it promotional fees, if you will. Tournament directors around the globe and throughout the schedule vie for the best players, and many offer appearance money, what is often referred to as "guarantee" money. These appearance fees are often larger than the winner's purse, which creates one obvious problem right off; namely, incentive kill. If a top player can use his or her market value to obtain an appearance fee of $100,000 to commit to an event that will only pay out $25,000 to the victor, where is the incentive to give 100 percent effort? It is left to the ranking points to carry the burden.

So, if Nadal pulls out due to a suspicious groin pull, because he wants to save himself for the Slam the next week, can anyone blame him? Particularly if he has copped a cool hundred grand or more in appearance money to show up and sell tickets? After all, that's what the appearance fee is all about — selling tickets to the show. That's why I think we should call it what it really is: a promotional fee. What the tournament directors are really paying is a fee for the use of the player's name and image in advertising and on programs, billboards and other signage promoting the event. If the player never shows, the marketing has still worked to sell a certain number of seats, so he or she has done their part. It's how promotional marketing works, and today's top players are commodities for the tennis industry in the same way that Tyra Banks or Kate Moss is a commodity for the fashion industry. That they should command top dollar for their "services" should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with how using celebrity star power in advertising creates demand for a product.

The answer, of course, is to first adjust the schedule so that there are four Grand Slam Series — one leading up to the Australian Open, one leading up to Roland Garros, one to Wimbledon, and one to the U.S. Open. Then, each of the Series "owners" or stakeholders would sign players to contracts. For example, Federer might sign a commitment to play no fewer than three events in the Series leading up to the Australian Open, three events leading up to Roland Garros, three events leading up to Wimbledon, and three events leading to the U.S. Open. He'd sign four different contracts. That would account for 12 of his 18 or so events on the year. The contract would stipulate the right of the Series "owners" to use his name and image in all marketing for any or all events within the Series. So, in signing onto the U.S. Open Series, Roger would in effect be committing to play three of the events leading up to the U.S. Open in New York, and in doing so would be granting the Series "owners" the right to use his name and image in all promotional materials for any and/or all the events in the U.S. Open Series. Should Roger choose not to play the Washington event, for example, his name and image might well grace the materials (except for the final drawsheet and on-site player promos) used by the tournament director to sell seats for that event. Roger could enter the event at his discretion, provided a spot in the draw was available. If, however, he chose not to enter the event, he would need to find three other events within the U.S. Open Series to enter, or run the risk of breaking his contract. A breach of contract would carry a stiff monetary penalty, perhaps equal to the appearance or promotional fee he'd been guaranteed for signing on and granting permission to the Series "owners" to use his name and image.

In this way, the Series "owners" could better control the use of appearance/promotional fees, and assure their constituents (i.e., fans) of the actual appearance of their marquee players in some, if not all, of the events within their product. The only other way to go would be to eliminate appearance fees completely, which would merely bring back the "black market" fees that once got Guillermo Vilas in trouble in the 1970s. The fees wouldn't disappear, they'd just go underground, and we'd lose all visibility and accountability.

Retiring with injury may be the only card a player can play legally if he needs to save himself for the big event with the big prize. Tanking, for most pros, is out of the question, as it may scar one's reputation and hurt one's chances of obtaining an appearance fee next time around. The verdict is still out on Nadal; we'll have to wait and see how he holds up in Melbourne. As for Henin-Hardenne's retirement to Amelie Mauresmo in last year's Aussie Open final, either her physical pain must have been real, or she couldn't bear the psychological and emotional pain of a convincing defeat. The truth we may never know.

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