Which 2000s player’s career was most negatively impacted by injury?

Most hurt by injuries?


  • Total voters
    68

Kralingen

Talk Tennis Guru
Aside from Ferrero - because he was the most obviously impacted.

I feel all of Federer’s contemporaries, these guys especially, suffered from awful injury luck… well, among other things… preventing them from reaching their potential and being consistent challengers to Federer in the 2000s and onwards.

So who was most negatively affected by injury? Hewitt, Safin, Nalbandian, or Roddick?
 

Backspin1183

Talk Tennis Guru
Nadal has 20 Slams to his name. He is unlucky only when compared to Federer and Djokovic. He's been far more fortunate than Haas, Hewitt, Delpo and many others who could have achieved a lot more than they ended up with.

From this list, I'd go with Hewitt.

Edit: Haas has been included in poll. Changed vote to Haas.
 
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Jonesy

Legend
Nadal played tennis because of a miracle. An injured person for life should not be playing tennis, but Toni warned him to be prepared for the consequences.
 

topher

Hall of Fame
In terms of slams that could’ve possibly been won Nadal certainly has a case, if only because he’s shown such slam winning potential like none other on this list.

He missed RG 2004, which was by no means a win for him, he was 17 going on 18 so quite raw. But to count him out would be dumb.

2006 AO didn’t matter, nor did his knee injury in late 2007, he likely wasn’t beating Fed on HC at that stage.

I don’t recall him being injured again until late 2008? He may have been injured against Murray at USO 2008, but possibly just exhausted and Murray actually played aggressive for once.

You can certainly make a strong argument for any of the 3 slams he didn’t win in 2009, Fed was nowhere near impervious. He could’ve also lost all 3, but we can say the same for anyone else on the list.

Thats 4 slams I count as possibly his, not counting AO 2010 which I consider not part of the 2000s.
 

The Blond Blur

G.O.A.T.
Haas not only had his own injury struggles, he had to miss most of 2002 to take care of his parents who were almost killed in a motorcycle accident. His dad was in a coma for a while. Before that he reached his career high at #2 in the world. When he came back he injured his shoulder which required major surgery that kept him out until 2004. He basically missed 2 years of his peak in a row right when he was getting started.
 

Kralingen

Talk Tennis Guru
Very interesting how even this poll is. How unlucky were these guys (and this isn’t even including Ferrero or DelPo)
 

Rosstour

G.O.A.T.
Unfortunately for Haas we don't know if he could have won Slams if totally healthy. With Hewitt and Safin, these guys both won multiple Slams and were #1 in the world. So you have to go with one of them because they obviously had what it took.

DelPo is kind of in the middle, he did win a Slam over Fedal but it's a stretch to think he could have gotten to #1 whereas we have clear cut evidence for Safin and Hewitt
 

NatF

Bionic Poster
Aside from Ferrero - because he was the most obviously impacted.

I feel all of Federer’s contemporaries, these guys especially, suffered from awful injury luck… well, among other things… preventing them from reaching their potential and being consistent challengers to Federer in the 2000s and onwards.

So who was most negatively affected by injury? Hewitt, Safin, Nalbandian, or Roddick?

Ferrero is a weird case because his injuries don't seem as serious as the others but they almost completely sunk him as a top player. I would say however that Safin was more heavily impacted by his knee troubles, Ferrero at least made it back to the top 20 - Safin was basically done after 2005 barring Wimbledon 2008. Likewise Haas had brutal luck with injuries but still made it back to a respectable ranking on numerous occasions.

On the list Hewitt is probably competing with Haas for the most injuries, multiple hip surgeries, a metal toe etc...he definitely made more of his career post surgeries than Safin though. In terms of career impact I'd probably go:

1. Safin
2/3. Hewitt/Ferrero
 

mike danny

Bionic Poster
Ferrero is a weird case because his injuries don't seem as serious as the others but they almost completely sunk him as a top player. I would say however that Safin was more heavily impacted by his knee troubles, Ferrero at least made it back to the top 20 - Safin was basically done after 2005 barring Wimbledon 2008. Likewise Haas had brutal luck with injuries but still made it back to a respectable ranking on numerous occasions.

On the list Hewitt is probably competing with Haas for the most injuries, multiple hip surgeries, a metal toe etc...he definitely made more of his career post surgeries than Safin though. In terms of career impact I'd probably go:

1. Safin
2/3. Hewitt/Ferrero
Hewitt at least wasn't as bad as Murray post injuries.
 

boredone3456

G.O.A.T.
I voted for Haas. Between all his shoulder problems, his hip issues and that food poisoning stomach thing he had, he still got to #2, won a fair amount of titles and generally was very talented. He also was comeback player of the year what...3 times because of all the injuries? Take all that out and I think he at least could have made a major final or 2 over the years.
 

Kralingen

Talk Tennis Guru

what a talent this guy was. video above shows Haas routining '13 Djokovic at his best Masters. At age 35.

Also has wins over Federer at Halle in 2012 and 2017 (aka the years Fed won Wimbledon) and he is 3 years older than Fed. That might be even more impressive.
 

tudwell

G.O.A.T.
I wanna say Haas. It's hard to know just what kind of player he could have become without the injuries. Hewitt and Safin at least got to reach their full potential for a while. It was cut short for both of them by their mid-20s, so maybe they could have done more (Safin in particular), but they at least were healthy enough to peak for a bit and win some slams. Now maybe Haas was never that level to begin with, but it still seems like he was further from maximizing his abilities because of injuries than the others on the list.
 

goldengate14

Professional
Aside from Ferrero - because he was the most obviously impacted.

I feel all of Federer’s contemporaries, these guys especially, suffered from awful injury luck… well, among other things… preventing them from reaching their potential and being consistent challengers to Federer in the 2000s and onwards.

So who was most negatively affected by injury? Hewitt, Safin, Nalbandian, or Roddick?
Hewitt definitely. Before his hip.problems which killed his movement Federer could not handle him at times. Roddick on the other hand and Safin save flr once were practical byes for peak Roger. Hewitt was insanely food and should have had at least 10 majors had he stayed fit.
 

DjokoLand

Hall of Fame
Nadal ?? Yes he had a lot of injuries but how many RG did he miss ? He was smart and didn’t play events when having pain that he knew he wouldn’t win.
Another thing is Nadal’s injuries are related too his style of tennis which causes the injuries but is the reason he won 20 slams. If he changed and started being aggressive and did less chasing/defending he would have less injuries but less slams
 

BauerAlmeida

Hall of Fame
Roddick wasn't particularly impacted by injuries, I don't think he belongs on the list with the others. Nadal had his injury troubles but he's been playing well into his mid-30s, so not as much as the others. In fact, Federer had more knee surgeries than him for all the talk about his bad knees. Haas was impacted as much as Ferrero or more. Same for Safin. It's between those three, even if Hewitt and Nalbandian also struggled a lot with physical issues.
 

NatF

Bionic Poster
I wanna say Haas. It's hard to know just what kind of player he could have become without the injuries. Hewitt and Safin at least got to reach their full potential for a while. It was cut short for both of them by their mid-20s, so maybe they could have done more (Safin in particular), but they at least were healthy enough to peak for a bit and win some slams. Now maybe Haas was never that level to begin with, but it still seems like he was further from maximizing his abilities because of injuries than the others on the list.

I don't think Haas had the ceiling to win slams. He was nearly 24 when he had to take time out of the game to look after his parents and then became chronically injured - in those days most players had peaked by around then. From 2003 onwards I think the winners of every slam were very good and from 2004 onwards they were about as good as they'd ever been so not much chance for him to grab anything IMO.
 

mike danny

Bionic Poster
I don't think Haas had the ceiling to win slams. He was nearly 24 when he had to take time out of the game to look after his parents and then became chronically injured - in those days most players had peaked by around then. From 2003 onwards I think the winners of every slam were very good and from 2004 onwards they were about as good as they'd ever been so not much chance for him to grab anything IMO.
He did miss his biggest chance at AO 2002, but that's about it.
 

NatF

Bionic Poster
He did miss his biggest chance at AO 2002, but that's about it.

AO 2002 is actually Hewitt's biggest missed opportunity, I reckon if he doesn't have chicken pox he has a real shot - though obviously he has to beat Haas + Safin which would be tough.
 

zagor

Bionic Poster
Roddick wasn't particularly impacted by injuries, I don't think he belongs on the list with the others. Nadal had his injury troubles but he's been playing well into his mid-30s, so not as much as the others. In fact, Federer had more knee surgeries than him for all the talk about his bad knees. Haas was impacted as much as Ferrero or more. Same for Safin. It's between those three, even if Hewitt and Nalbandian also struggled a lot with physical issues.

Roddick's career was essentially finished off by shoulder injury and mono. He also had knee tendonitis his whole career almost.
 

Third Serve

Talk Tennis Guru
Roddick wasn't particularly impacted by injuries, I don't think he belongs on the list with the others. Nadal had his injury troubles but he's been playing well into his mid-30s, so not as much as the others. In fact, Federer had more knee surgeries than him for all the talk about his bad knees. Haas was impacted as much as Ferrero or more. Same for Safin. It's between those three, even if Hewitt and Nalbandian also struggled a lot with physical issues.
The shoulder injury that basically killed his serve and career would disagree.
 

Kralingen

Talk Tennis Guru
lol at Nadal as an option.
Nadal ?? Yes he had a lot of injuries but how many RG did he miss ? He was smart and didn’t play events when having pain that he knew he wouldn’t win.
Another thing is Nadal’s injuries are related too his style of tennis which causes the injuries but is the reason he won 20 slams. If he changed and started being aggressive and did less chasing/defending he would have less injuries but less slams
How could I not include the injured man who plays tennis?

I actually had a feeling he would get a few votes though but not thiiiis many lol. And I'm not sure how many serious votes those are.
 

NatF

Bionic Poster
How could I not include the injured man who plays tennis?

I actually had a feeling he would get a few votes though but not thiiiis many lol. And I'm not sure how many serious votes those are.

Depends if you consider Nadal fans serious posters or not 8-B
 
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