Scott Simon de NPR and the sports writer Howard Bryant previewed the next Wimbledon tennis championship and watch the recent peak in the injuries of the Achille tendon in the NBA.
Scott Simon, host:
And now to the moving tones of the theme music of BJ Leiderman. It’s time for sport.
(Soundbite of Music)
Simon: A cup of fresh tea and grass. It’s time for Wimbledon. And injuries to Achilles in basketball tendons seem to be increasing. Sportcaster (PH) Howard Bryant joins us. Thank you for being with us, Howard.
Howard Bryant: Hello, Scott. How are you doing?
Simon: Very good, thank you.
Bryant: Do not forget the strawberries and the cream with Wimbledon. I am addicted.
Simon: Oh, it’s true.
Bryant: This is one thing there.
Simon: Yeah. You know very well that strawberries and cream, right?
Bryant: Oh, absolutely. Not this year, however. I’m at home.
Simon: Very good. Well, let’s start with the women’s tournament. Coco Gauff comes to Wimbledon after winning his second Grand Chelem championship at the French Open. She is 21 years old and is the 2nd row player in the world. Is it the favorite?
Bryant: It’s a great question. You might think that it could very well be. It was then that she did it – you know, she made her debut when she shocked Venus Williams, who had won this tournament five times. And she is very comfortable on the grass. You know, she has just left a major championship. She is – she plays exactly the type of game, although the service is not huge. But I think that when you watch her play, the level of confidence she now has two majors – let’s not forget Aryna Sabalenka, which she beat in Paris, who also seeks her first Wimbledon. You look at Elena Rybakina, who also won this tournament. Let us not forget the old n ° 1 IGA Swiatek, who has never exceeded the neighborhoods here. Lots of good players. Female tennis is a little more unpredictable than men, but you have two players that I think people want to see again. You want to see …
Simon: Yeah.
Bryant: … the Sabalenka-Gauff rivalry. You want to see it grow a little because their styles are so different. We play a great attack. The other plays a great defense, has a ridiculous speed. And so when these two are played, it’s almost like boxing when they say that styles are fighting. Watch these two play together, really a great contrast.
Simon: On the male side, perhaps a clear favorite – Carlos Alcaraz, 22, from Spain hopes to win his third consecutive Wimbledon title. Of course, there is Novak Djokovic in Serbia, perhaps the greatest player of all time. He is 38 years old. What – is this his last chance in a Wimbledon title?
Bryant: The legs of thirty-eight years old. What could you bet? Are you going to go for 21-year-old legs or 38-year-old legs? Novak Djokovic is the big one – it’s the big djokovic. He has 24 majors. He did everything you could do on a tennis court, but it is generally when they retire. But Novak said he wanted to play until 2028. He wanted to defend his gold medal against the Olympic Games. He wants this 25th major. He wants this eighth Wimbledon. But there are two great players who stand on the way. One, of course, is the world number 1, Jannik Sinner. And the other, of course, is the double reigning champion, Carlos Alcaraz. It’s a hard road. It is a difficult route. And he has a really, really difficult draw because if everything stands and we do not make any upheaval on this subject, he must beat the sinner …
Simon: Yeah.
Bryant: … and Alcaraz to win the championship. It is therefore a major challenge. It is – if someone can do it, Novak can. He’s so great in this tournament. But if we are really honest, this is one of the reasons why these guys do not play because they grow 40 years.
Simon: The NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league will study what seems to be a recent peak in the injuries of the Achilles tendon. When Oklahoma City won her first NBA championship, but the best player of the Pacers – Tyrese Haliburton, Tyrese Haliburton, torn his Achilles straight tendon during the match. Jayson Tatum of Boston Celtics underwent the same type of injury during the playoffs. What’s going on?
Bryant: And let’s not forget Damian Lillard with the dollars before that. And so – and also, let’s also add baseball. Thursday evening, Griffin Canning, the Mets launcher, he launches a quick bullet then a sudden box of the mound. And he was released for next season, and perhaps, you know, also in 2027. He tore his Achilles. Many questions here have been, is everything bigger, faster and stronger on the human body? Is it too much? As you know, we have more and more basketball, more – longer seasons. And the muscles become larger, but the tendons do not do so. And so there are a lot of questions through sports that it may be too much in the body. The body acts the white flag, then there are other people, of course, who will say, well, it is in a way – just a wave of injuries. But if there is one thing we know, they call it Achilles for a reason. This is not the injury you want. Really, really devastating, especially with these young players under the age of 30.
Simon: Howard Bryant, thank you very much for being with us. I’m talking to you soon, my friend.
Bryant: No, my pleasure, Scott.
(Soundbite of “Albany” by Kev Brown)
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