Injury Wins

There must be a reason the tennis Gods don't want me playing any more nationals this year. For the third national in a row, I've had to pull out. First, in May, was my heart issue the day before leaving for Chicago for the indoors. Still recovering from the heart procedure, I wasn't ready in July for the grass in Philadelphia, and now my heel is keeping me out of the hard courts in Salinas. Needless to say, I am very disappointed. I was hoping to be able to go and at least play doubles. Knowing the level of competition, and even playing with a great player like Fran, I would not be able to move and hold up my end of the court. I've been getting treatment from Bob at physical therapy for about 4 weeks with no improvement. I talked to Dr. Donchey, our sports med doc, who ordered an MRI to rule out some things, which came back normal. The pain is in an isolated spot on my right heel and is very painful when my heel hits the ground, which includes just walking around. We're thinking now it might be a bone bruise. I see Dr. Donchey on Tuesday again and hope to figure it out. I'm just ready to stop hurting all the time. Renee and I have played some fun doubles, even with me hobbling around the court. I figure if I'm going to hurt whether I do something or not, I might as well do what I can do.

Phil has been working hard getting ready for his two upcoming nationals, the grass and clay. He leaves on Tuesday for New York to play his grass courts, then returns to Atlanta to play the clay courts, which start a few days later. Since I'm not going to California for my tournament, I'll try to join Phil in Atlanta for the end of the clay courts. Until then I'll work on getting my heel healed, and cheer Phil on from afar. He has been working very hard on and off the court to prepare for his upcoming events. I can sense him getting into his tournament mode of thinking. Phil's tournaments will be tough, and I know he will compete well and do well.

We've enjoyed watching the US Open these past two weeks. What great matches! Happy to see Clijsters win, and pulling for Nadel to win this afternoon. We'll be going through withdrawal from tennis on TV every night once it's over.

I've put links to Phil's draws to the right of these posts. I'll also continue to post on his matches as the week goes on. He and Tom have a first round doubles match on Wednesday afternoon. Singles will start on Friday.