Practice and Prep Versus Performance
There are four Grand Slams during the year and more than a 100 top tier tournaments on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and the ATP Tour every year. As the 2007 U.S. Open Series winds down in advance of the 2007 U.S. Open, it is another chance to evaluate the play of the top players prior to the U.S. Open versus during the championships themselves. Kim Clijsters did win the U.S. Open Series a couple years ago and then won
the U.S. Open. However, the other U.S. Open Champions the past few years, e.g. Roger Federer, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova all played well at times during the U.S. Open Series, but didn’t dominate the summer U.S. hardcourt season. The reality is that the weekly tournaments are primarily practice and preparation time for the top players. The players definitely want to win every tournament they enter and certainly have favorite tournaments and surfaces during the year. However, there is just a little more at stake during the Grand Slams. Therefore, the players will often persevere a bit more during a Grand Slam match and withdraw if they are a little tired and/or injured during the prep tournaments leading up to a Grand Slam, e.g. Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova this summer. This is simply the reality of the sport and the profession, i.e. practice and confidence is gained during the regular tournaments while reputations are made at the Grand Slams. Every player wants to peak during “prime time” at the U.S. Open and they will do whatever is necessary to achieve that success.
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