@THUNDERVOLLEY
Halep said the same thing that she knew she couldn't keep up with Serena in the SF so she retired but she's gonna play Cincy? Fascinating.
And i'd expect Serena to withdraw, she'll probably head to Cincy and hit the practice court and check it out and withdraw. Plus she's 11 years older than Halep so I have a little more leeway for her injury than Halep who didn't even call a MTO after dropping the set and retiring.
I stand by what I said. Halep's retirement was abrupt, now she's not withdrawing from the next event. Serena at least you could tell was impacted by her injuries with her slow serves. Halep fought from 0-4 down to level at 4-4 only to retire after dropping the next 2 games.
I guess you've never experienced the "runner's high". The brain releases endocannabinoids, endorphins and adrenaline when engaged in exercise for many athletes. The brain can subdue the feeling of pain during the heat of battle. I've been able to play with moderate pain quite a few times as a result of the runner's high. Only slight degradation of performance while playing. Yet, when I stopped moving for a while, the pain becomes quite apparent again. Sometimes I have gotten away with this. Other times, it was a mistake and I end up injuring myself further..
Simona had mentioned that her Achilles had been bothering her from the very first match last week. And, even tho she didn't have too much trouble besting Svetlana, she did call for the trainer for an MTO in that match on Thursday. Twice, I believe.
In her match on Friday, against Marie, Simona did call for the trainer at the end of the set. She then sat down and pulled her socks off while she waited for the trainer. You can see that her feet and ankle had been taped up prior to the match. After and inspection and discussion with the trainer, Simona decided to call it quits.
There were 2 or 3 shots I saw in that set where Simona normally would have gotten to, but did not do so in that match. Marie hit 3 drop shots in that one set. I believe that Simona expected Marie to continue moving her around and hitting drop shots like that if she were to continue the match. Even if she were to make it thru that match, she expected to do more running than she could handle on Saturday against Serena. Given the pain and condition of her Achilles, she feared increased pain and the risk of further injury, was not worth jeopardizing her chances in Cincinnati or New York.
Even in her 20s, Serena was making decisions like this as well on more then one occasion. One case that comes to mind... in 2008, Serena was the top seed at the BOW Classic at Stanford. In her third match there, she was down a set and a break against qualifier, Aleksanra Wozniak and decided to retire after a few games in the 2nd set. Yet she was able to play a subsequent venue. She ended up winning the US Open a few weeks later.