A little justified concern but no alarm: the withdrawal from the Madrid ATP of Jannik Sinner it was decided as a precaution to prevent the hip pain could worsen and not allow him to be in top athletic condition for the next Internationals in Rome and in the Parisian tournament that is worth a Slam, Roland Garros. But what could be the problem that the number two in world tennis is suffering from? He tried to give an answer to Fanpage the professor. Nicola Santorisurgeon and member of the steering committee of the Italian Hip Society as well as being part of the European Hip Society and head of the Hip Arthroscopy Faculty of the Italian Arthroscopy Society (Sia).
The hip problem
The hypothesis formulated by the prof. Santori comes from the observation of what has already happened in the world of tennis and the problems that Sinner has been having for some time, albeit in a less evident way than in recent times (he had already had some problems in Monte Carlo). “This gesture of suffering on the hip is nothing new, I had already seen him touch his groin in other tournaments. He will have to do tests to exclude a pathology that frequently affects athletes, what we call ‘femoro-acetabular impingement‘”. But what does it mean specifically? This is a problem that comes in the developmental phase and happens frequently in those who play sports at high levels and intensely.
“In fact it is a hip that develops with one not perfect shape – explains the surgeon – It happens that the neck of the femur, as a reaction to excessive stress, develops with a larger diameter than normal. During the movement we are going to create a friction because the neck of the femur is too voluminous for the acetabulum”.
How it affects Sinner’s game
To give the ball as much push as possible, especially during service shifts, the hip is subjected to a great deal of stress due to the inevitable rotations: those with a hip conformation expose themselves to very frequent inflammation. “The first suspicion upon seeing Sinner, for those who deal with minimally invasive hip surgery, is that he may have a problem of this type. Of course he just is a hypothesis, mine is a professional deformation”. Clearly, the more you play, the less chance you have of resting and recovering from this type of injury, which is why the choice to leave Madrid was more than wise.
Murray’s precedent
If this diagnosis is confirmed, a comparison could be made with what happened to the English tennis player Andy Murray to which a prosthesis was inserted. “At one point in his career he found himself with a hip that had a femoroacetabular impingement. A serious problem, which they tried to solve with aarthroscopy, with the aim of reshaping the femoral neck. But he had to undergo prosthetic surgery.”. The situations, however, are very different: Murray was forced to retire because he intervened too late, that is, when his cartilage was damaged to the point of not allowing him to play at high levels. Vice versa, “if the athlete is 20-22 years old, correct this anomaly with arthroscopy and the hip will be as good as new”.
This does not mean that Sinner will necessarily be destined for surgery, which is why the prof. Santori simply concludes by saying that he is “going for speculation” even if the type of sporting history of the blue, “that is, that of a boy who has done intensive sport since he was a boy, and due to the type of symptoms he seems to show, he could potentially have a problem of this type”. Now is no longer the time to wait for clear and definitive answers because the problem could drag on for a long time until “you stop, then you start again, then you stop, then you start again. He was right to stop in Madrid and I’m sure he is already in good hands.”.
The difference between surfaces
As it happens, for the next few weeks the tournaments will take place on Red earth which makes it easier for those suffering from hip problems because the feet slide, reducing the stress on the joints. Opposite speech for the tough guy cement Where “everything is transmitted from the foot to the knee and hip. On clay it’s different, the joints are much more protected”. Finally, the surgeon explained why this problem exists in tennis: tournaments have increased and the modern game increasingly requires more push and speed. “The dynamics of movement have also changed: power has increased, now we play with more explosiveness because tennis players load the movement on all the joints, and in particular on the hip.
Only in this way can you obtain ball speed like Sinner has”, he concludes.
