The Psychology of Injury
Join us for the Monte Carlo final. We’ll be blogging live on Sunday morning, April 27, at 6am (PST)/9am (EST)/3pm (CET). We’ll include your comments in the live blog feed.
Why does Andy Murray get so many injuries?
After hitting one of many dropshots in his first round match with Feliciano Lopez at Monte Carlo, Andy Murray shook his wrist as though he’d tweaked it and was in some pain. Here we go again, I thought. It was only last year that he missed three months of the season after injuring his wrist in Hamburg. As he walked off the court, he let loose with a string of invectives directed towards his coach at the time, Brad Gilbert.
I bring this up because Murray is something of an injury magnet and we’ve been trying to figure out the anatomy of injury here at Tennis Diary. I said that players with graceful strokes have less injuries but our very smart readers pointed out that just because a player has graceful strokes doesn’t mean they’ll be injury free. They presented Murray as a good example.
Now I may have a different theory. I’ve been suffering from a muscle tear under my shoulder blade and my doctor sent me an interview with Dr. John Sarno along with a note in which she said that many of her patients have benefited from his work. Sarno has worked in the field of pain management for many years and it is his belief that many cases of chronic pain are caused by the brain’s reaction to stress – the self-imposed stress of being a driven perfectionist, the stress of daily life, and, in some cases, stress from childhood trauma.
I’m not sure that I appreciate my doctor telling me that my pain is in my head but I fit the profile. I’m a perfectionistic workaholic. Sarno is not saying that I don’t feel pain and he’s not saying that that I don’t have a structural abnormality. He cites a study in which 98 pain-free, healthy people were given MRIs. Sixty four percent had bulging or herniated discs.
So what’s the difference between those pain-free people with messed up spines and chronic pain sufferers like me? According to Sarno, our brain tries to protect us from psychological trauma by creating a physical distraction and it does it by altering blood flow to a particular area which causes oxygen deprivation which leads to pain.
You can read the interview with Sarno here.
Now back to Murray’s string of invectives. Clearly any top tennis player is going to be something of a perfectionist and they’re all going to experience a huge amount of stress. And Murray is not the only player who gets mad at himself on court. Mikhail Youzhny, if you remember, recently impaled his forehead with the edge of his racket. But Murray has a singular ability to rail at himself in the most abusive, nonstop language. And without suggesting expertise in psychology, he did suffer at least one childhood trauma. He was a student at Dunblane Primary School in Scotland when 16 children and one adult were killed in a murder-suicide by a Dunblane resident. Murray says he doesn’t remember anything about the incident.
John McEnroe is one person that comes to mind immediately when the subject of on court railing comes up. But McEnroe always took his temper out on everyone else, not himself, and he had no shortage of self-confidence. Marat Safin is probably closest to Murray for inducing self-imposed stress and he’s had a serious knee injury that has essentially derailed his career, but I don’t remember him being an injury magnet so my theory is not perfect. But it’s worth considering further. Who else fits Murray’s profile would you say?
Murray’s second round opponent at Monte Carlo was Filippo Volandri, the same guy who stood across the net at Hamburg last year. There were some great points in this match and, just as you’d expect, they featured a drop shot or two.
Early in the first set, Volandri approached down the line and Murray scrambled to put up a defensive lob. Volandri couldn’t put the overhead away and he followed it up with a drop shot in Murray’s direction then a volley away from Murray. Murray is a quick little bugger, though, and he got to it and sent a slice volley deep into the court to end the point. Here you can see why people are not sure how much of Murray’s speed is foot speed and how much of it is anticipation. Volandri didn’t exactly put the ball away but any overhead is tough to get back and the last shot Murray ran down was all anticipation.
While I was wandering around the practice courts in Indian Wells last month, Volandri and Rafael Nadal were both practicing and it was striking to notice how much more rotation Nadal gets when he hits the ball. Volandri has to go down as the player on tour who most suffered from bad early coaching – all apologies due to his aunt who was the culprit, but the truth is the truth. I play against people who have a better service motion than Volandri and then there’s that rotation problem.
Players choose the open stance for a few reasons. The ball is hit so hard that players don’t have time to step forward with their off foot – the foot opposite their racket hand – so they stay in the open stance. The other reason is to get more rotation. If you step into the ball with your off foot and you rotate back as far as you can, eventually you’ll pull your head off the ball. If you use more of an open stance, you can rotate your trunk as far as you can and still keep your eye on the ball.
Volandri twists alright but it’s an abbreviated twist. Whereas Nadal rotates from his heels to the top of his trunk, Volandri’s rotation ends somewhere before the bottom of his trunk and he looks like he’s hitting the ball with his arm instead of his whole body. I don’t know why he doesn’t have an annular tear in one of his vertebral discs just like mine with that abbreviated twist. Maybe he’s a stress free dude and his vertebrae aren’t suffering from oxygen deprivation like mine appear to be.
Volandri is also an annoying little bugger in his own right. He knows how to play the court and he can drive you crazy with his defense and well-disguised drop shots. Unfortunately, Murray is like those sports teams who play down to their competition. He gets cute instead of hitting aggressively and spending a lot more time at the net where he’s perfectly comfortable. I couldn’t find the stat but I think Volandri was at the net more often than Murray.
Still, Murray pulled the victory our rather easily, 6-4, 6-1, as Volandri piled up unforced errors in the second set. Murray will now play Novak Djokovic. I’m still not sure that Djokovic is a good clay court player even though he reached the French Open semifinal last year because his draw was so easy, but Murray also doesn’t play aggressively enough to beat someone as doggedly hard hitting or consistent as Djokovic. Any bets on that one?
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If someone would help me out here by entering the contest, I can dress up as a drag king and pretend to be your father if you win, okay? We can both take on Federer in Australian doubles and you can explain my diminutive stature by saying that you were adopted.
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18 Responses to “The Psychology of Injury”
April 23rd, 2008 at 3:58 am
What I have noticed with Andy Murray is that he doesn’t appear to have a high pain threshold mentally or physically. Obviously, I’m not talking about the horrible wrist and ankle injury which would have sent even the toughest flying through the roof in agony. On the other hand Federer has played through colds, mono and foot problems. I’m sure Nadal has played on with painful knees and blisters. Murray withdrew from Valencia with a virus, he withdrew from DC to protect himself from injury.. He may well have had a virus last week, we have to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I can’t shift the feeling that he saw the tough field ahead in Valencia and he knew it was going to be a physical dogfight and maybe he didn’t have enough confidence in his physical state - possibly the fear factor. Mind you, having to face the likes of supreme athletes like Almagro and Ferrer playing clever clay court and running you down like hyenas, I do have some sympathy because these two can smell blood a mile off. Not wishing to cause offence and just my opinion, I see a little of Gasquet in him, too much reliance on talent and a little lazy thrown in.
Last year Gilbert urged Andy to play on in Hamburg when he clearly sustained a wrist injury whilst playing Volandri, the boy was in genuine pain. It was wrong advice, but I’ve often wondered whether that was a frustrated response by Gilbert to previous ‘cry wolves ?
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:12 am
Well now I know why I am sore all the time; thanks (I think!?) Nina.
Jenny, I’d agree with your Gasquet / Murray analogy insofar as they both rely heavily on their talent, but personally I don’t see Murray as lazy. He’s a great defensive player, a real digger when he needs to be, whereas Gasquet is much more of an offensive guy who likes to end points quickly with brilliant shot-making. Murray has dropshotitis but overall he’s brimming with effort.
But Murray is also a perfectionist. I don’t know if I buy the argument that these sorts of psychological issues *lead* to injury, because that’s what we were discussing that initially (why do all of these athletes get injured) but I do buy that being this type of person could make pain worse, and could make the effects of an injury linger - both in terms of confidence (of lack thereof) and in terms of physical pain.
As for why they get injured in the first place - the jury is still out for me.
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:52 am
OK, here’s Maureen Dowd of the NYTimes venturing forth into court games….this from the woman with the meanest inside out forehand in politics….
“Despite all his incandescent gifts, Obama has missed several opportunities to smash the ball over the net and end the game. Again and again, he has seemed stuck at deuce. He complains about the politics of scoring points, but to win, you’ve got to score points.”
Life and politics it would seem are a ball, so go play!
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:05 am
I read that Patricia. Good analogy.
But she got Marvin K Mooney all wrong, because at the end of that book the narrator invites Marvin to the party. Dowd wants Clinton out of the party.
Clinton is the better candidate though; too bad she’s a woman or she’d've won already. With a smash on match point, too. Maybe Hillary should hire Billy Jean King for some advice? Another battle of the sexes perhaps?
April 23rd, 2008 at 11:51 am
I think Sarno is agreeing with you joel-la. The injury is there as the study showed for the people who were pain-free but had herniated and bulging discs. The psychological response, in Sarno’s view, ends up decreasing blood flow to the area and that make it painful. In my case, for instance, I have some problems with adrenal fatigue and make me more susceptible to pains and aches until I can get that all balanced out.
There’s no question in my mind that Murray feels the pain deeply because I’m one of those physically sensitive people and it drives me nuts. So I’m not hard on him for not playing - though I take you point, Jenny, about Valencia and that’s also why he didn’t go to Argentina, he wanted to be in shape to defend his points the next week. Sarno’s approach is an attempt to explain why some people are physically sensitive to pain and tend to be stopped more by injuries than others.
Have to say, though, don’t know what Gasquet’s problem is though a story about him in the ATP magazine did mention that his parents lost their first child and swathed Richard in cotton blankets and that he only recently left home. I sometimes think he’s a reluctant tennis star and that’s how he acts it out. Maybe his heart is elsewhere.
Marvin K. Mooney, I had to go to Wikipedia to look that one up. Dowd is merciless and I hate sarcasm. I’m completely distressed by the entire state of my country at this point and that doesn’t make me one bit happier.
April 23rd, 2008 at 3:31 pm
I’m inclined to agree with you about Gasquet, Nina. I love the guy’s tennis and why I get so frustrated with him. Aren’t his parents very heavy duty into tennis, are coaches etc? Could this be ambitious, but well intentioned parents pushing a talented but reluctant son? He was hyped up by the media at 9yrs old. If this is the case, it must be hard for him, not wishing to disappoint his parents’ sacrifice, but if his heart isn’t in it, he’s never going to be a happy bunny. We wanted our son to be a doctor, he chose wildlife conservation and is happy, tough on us at the time, but damn good on him for saying no!
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Yeah, you gotta follow your heart don’t you? Maybe Gasquet is rebelling a little. I read at some blog that when he pulled out of one his matches with a headache or something (maybe it was last year’s USO) he was spotted at a football game the next day or something. It does suggest something about his level of motivation.
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:49 pm
I believe Gasquet’s father is a tennis coach. Keep in mind that being a tennis coach in France is a much more difficult process than it is in the U.S., don’t know about Canada or the U.K. In the U.S.
Tursunov is another guy who shows ambivalence to tennis. I believe his father shipped him here when he was a teenager and he’s spoken with mixed feelings about it at times. To me he looks like he plays with anger instead of appreciation for the game because he just smashes the ball as hard as he can no matter what the circumstances.
Speaking of not playing, can you believe Davydenko? He quits in Estoril because of his leg and now he’s right as rain. He clearly did quit the match to save himself for this week. Maybe they should have a rule that requires you to miss the next tournament if you retire during a final or something to discourage such a cavalier attitude to important matches.
Jenny, where does you son work?
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Jenny, I’m on my way to Google Marvin K. Mooney also, sounds like there is a good joke in here somewhere. Sorry I did not get back sooner, but I decided not to tape the matches but instead to watch the repeat on TTC today, so I had to stay away from people/live scores/TV shows etc in case someone revealed the winners of Federer’s match and Ancic-Nadal. Roger gave me quite a fright needless to say, although I fell asleep somewhere midway through Ancic’s match with Nadal. So I assume Ancic caved in after two because now they are near the end of Gasquet just blitzing poor K Vliegen, and doesn’t our head case Frenchman look in great form!
April 24th, 2008 at 2:45 am
Reluctantly I’m going along with you re Davydenko, Nina. He’s really firing in Monte Carlo. In complete contrast in attitude, I’ve just watched the Ferrer/Tipsy match. I didn’t expect Janko to win but he went toe to toe with David in the first three games before D broke and closed out the first set and Janko became dispirited. In the second set Janko lost serve and was all over the place, I suspect his ankle may have been hurting him, did he retire, not on your life, he just stuck in there. Congrats Ferru [cool as a cucumber!] and well done gutsy Janko for seeing it through, despite the horrible bagel.
My son hasn’t long left Uni. At the moment he’s at home writing off to the wildlife organisations to get a foot in the door, but he’s willing to work for just board anywhere if need be. He’s particularly interested in Gorilla and Tiger conservation. We support him totally, but must confess I wouldn’t be too happy if he gets a placement in Rwanda, his temper and passion could get him into trouble if he sees cruelty and prone to go into Rambo mode, [not a good idea sweet pea] and I don’t want him coming home in a box, so we’re trying to veer him towards India and the Tigers!
April 24th, 2008 at 8:15 am
Jenny - sounds like your son rocks; you must’ve done a good job with him. What a cool career path to take and a very interesting and important one in these times. My best to him.
April 24th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Thanks so much Joel-la, we are very proud. We tried to give it our best shot but he’s always been a pretty nice respectful guy so it wasn’t too difficult.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:08 am
I remember the four hour match Andy Murray had with Rafa during the 2007 Australian openso I know he can dig down and do what needs to be done. I often wonder if it is a combination of still growing, bone structure and early diet and affects some players and renders some more injury pronethan others. Richard Gasquet seems to be a quiet, shy sort of person who may be a reluctant tennis star. His parents didn’t send him off to school because, as his mother said, “We like having him around.” Maybe he just doesn’t have the killer instinct.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Hi Debra, I grew up in the United Kingdom, I can attest to the quality of the food there :0) I’m kidding Jenny, kind of. I grew up in a small village in Essex in the early fifties where the food supply was still recovering from rationing. My grandmother’s eggs were our main source of protein, that and chicken livers which were yucky but inexpensive.
It’s a good point though. Some of these players are still growing. Look at Agassi. He grew into a muscular behemoth and it could happen to anyone. Murray could go from being a scrawny runabout to a more muscular, more solid athlete and it would also help his power.
Jenny, that’s wonderful and hilarious. Have you traveled to India? There’s lots of poverty and problems there but the people are wonderful and though I wish them a much better economy and living conditions, I imagine that the culture which is rooted in their spiritual practices will become diluted if they become an economic power and that’s too bad because it’s a magical country in that way. Their sacred text predated our scientific knowledge and we sometimes throw out the sacred texts which have the wisdom about healing that equals that of all of the world’s medical systems put together - except for emergency situations, I grant you, modern medicine has done fantastic work in that field. Anyway, I’m just saying my vote is for India too.
April 24th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Yeah - and India has Bollywood too! What fun.
April 24th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Sadly never visited India Nina, that whole spiritual culture would suit my son though. Lol Joel-la!!
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