Within the time of the pandemic, the tennis take care of even the smallest detail. The security is the number one priority of every tournament to protect its players and staff from the invisible threat of the virus. All kinds of regulations are put into play to ensure the physical integrity of the tennis players. All this ends up becoming a paradox when there are still elements that can cause a tragedy… within the tennis court itself.
Advertising, there is no doubt, is a fundamental element for any tournament. Now even more, sponsorships are one of the ways to emerge afloat and it is time to advertise them with great fanfare. However, not all this justifies injuries which, in addition, neither ATP nor WTA cover. During the dispute of the Abu Dhabi, Kirsten Flipkens suffered a partial grade 2 rupture of one of the ligaments of your ankle. Bad support looking for a ball, a twist when slipping … Nothing of that. The reason for this injury is another.
As was also another reason for the injury suffered by Thanasi Kokkinakis in Monte-Carlo 2018, just months after returning to the circuit after going through a way of the cross of injuries. They both had one thing in common: they were caused by an element beyond their control, an element that shouldn’t be there: the billboards standing in front of the linesmen. Elements that seem almost imperceptible, silent … and that, precisely for that reason, should be strictly prohibited on a tennis court.
In a sport in which the game from the back of the court increasingly predominates, with players capable of slide through cement As if they were deer, billboards can only lead to one thing: disaster. Aesthetically they do not contribute anything either, and the solutions for the advertising to be maintained are multiple: as in the case of basketball, for example, the logos or symbols of the companies to be promoted could be drawn at the bottom of the court. Anything before putting a piece of wood, metal, or plastic that can lead to serious injuries.
The Belgian tennis player affirms that she is already working to try to reach the Australian Open. If one thing hopes is that his recovery will be faster and smoother than that suffered by Kokkinakis: the Australian finished that Monegasque tournament in crutches. That neither ATP nor WTA learned their lesson after that incident is beyond the understanding of the general public, especially when it comes to a debate with such a simple solution.
As if that were not enough, the billboard against which Flipkens’ ankle struck referred to, as if it were a wink of fate, Healthpoint … the hospital to which she was later transferred for tests of her injury. Ironic, right? It is time to put an end to something so simple. Hopefully these types of elements will disappear soon. For the sake of tennis and its players.
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