Tennis and All That

  Image from SMART-Servier Medical Art, Servier Laboratoires; freely reusable under Creative Commons Licence Here we have very nice diagrams of different levels of severity of ankle sprains: Top left: healthy Top right: grade 1 strain Bottom left: grade 2, depicting a partial tear of around 50%  Bottom right: grade 3: surgery level because the tear is 100%  Alcaraz stated that he was told that an MRI scan showed he has a grade 2 lateral ankle sprain.  Lateral means the outside of the ankle, near the ankle joint, as opposed to the ligaments on the inner side of the foot. These outside ligaments are vital for strength, stability, flexibility and mobility. Typically, the lateral ligaments sprain and tear more easily. As you can see in the chart, the lateral ankle ligaments are a combination of three connecting ligaments: posterior talofibular ligament (PTFL, top left of the three), anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL, top right of the three) and the calcaneofibular liga...

Today I read an article, which sensationalises some so-called fan comments that attacked Swiatek's analysis of her suprise loss to Kalinskaya. The article even repeats totally unacceptable, untrue, nasty comments made about Swiatek such as: she hates women. While it may be true that someone somewhere posted that comment, it doesn't mean that it's your job as a writer or journalist to amplify it, normalise it uncritically and potentially encourage others to read it and perhaps then see Swiatek in a different light, simply because you picked out that comment instead of the supportive ones I'm sure she would have also received from fans.  See  here  to read it.  I think Swiatek is right. It probably did have more to do with her than the opponent. We sometimes see a top 10 player suddenly lose to a much lower ranked player and we wonder why. The answer lies in 1) did someone other than their coach help them beat the top player by giving them certain tips 2) lower ranked ...