Top five tennis players whose careers were ruined by injuries ft Dominic Thiem, Juan Martin Del Potro and more

Tennis players face a constant battle with injuries that occasionally turn career-threatening.

Injuries are part of a sportsperson’s life. They are trained to accept it, try to recover quickly and make a comeback to the sport. But, it is easier said than done, as the recovery depends on a lot of other factors like the nature of the injury, precise treatment and the player’s mental strength and motivation.

Some players recover multiple times from injuries and make remarkable comebacks, but few are not fortunate enough and end up battling with injuries that ultimately ruin their careers. Let us look at the top five tennis players whose career trajectory could have been something else if not for injuries.

5. Dinara Safina

Dinara Safina is a former World No. 1 and was popularly known as the younger sister of two-time singles Grand Slam winner Marat Safin. Interestingly, Dinara and Marat became the first ever sister-brother duo to become World No. 1s in tennis history. 

Safina played her best tennis from 2007-2010. She was the runner-up at the 2008 French Open, 2009 Australian Open and 2009 French Open. She won the US Open doubles title in 2007 with Nathalie Dechy and also won the singles silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She became the second Russian player after Maria Sharapova to reach World No. 1 in 2009.

Safina won 12 WTA singles and nine doubles titles in her career. She suffered from a back injury and played her last match in 2011 at the Madrid Open when she was just 25-years-old. The injury turned out to be career-ending as Safina could never play competitive tennis again.

She officially announced her retirement in 2014. Safina later revealed that she struggled with anxiety and binge eating disorder and was constantly overweight even after trying a lot to lose weight. All these factors added to her injury and led her to an early retirement. 

4. Robin Soderling

Robin Soderling shocked the world when he produced one of the biggest upsets in the history of tennis. Soderling defeated Rafael Nadal at the 2009 French Open, ending Nadal’s impeccable 31-0 win record at the tournament. He went on to play the best tennis of his career in the next two years.

Soderling reached the finals of the 2009 and 2010 French Open, won a total of 10 ATP titles and reached a career-high ranking of World No. 5 in 2011. The Swede suffered a wrist injury in 2011 but while in rehab, he fell ill and was diagnosed with mononucleosis.

His career came to a premature end due to his illness as he could not regain full fitness and never played competitive tennis again. Soderling’s career was unexpectedly cut short but his name has been forever etched in the history books for being one of three players to defeat Rafael Nadal at Roland-Garros.

3. Dominic Thiem

A few years ago, Dominic Thiem was the man to watch out for in the tennis world. He was looked upon as the next-gen player who would dominate the tour. His breakthrough moment came in 2020, when he came back from two sets down and defeated Alexander Zverev in the final at the US Open and reached a career-high ranking of World No. 3.

He won 17 ATP singles titles and also reached the finals at the French Open in 2018 and 2019 and the Australian Open in 2020. Thiem is one of the rare players to have at least five wins each against the ‘Big Three’ which shows his potential to perform on the big stage. Thiem had some of the heaviest ground strokes on the tour and used to hit a big forehand and powerful single-handed backhand.

He generated immense power with his wrists but unfortunately, he suffered a wrist injury in 2021 which weakened his wrist. Wrist injuries are known to be notorious for tennis players and Thiem did not look the same player after making a comeback.

He wasn’t able to beat higher-ranked opponents and had a poor 2023 season since his return. Thiem admitted that his wrist was not the same after the injury. He is currently playing his last season, as he already announced his retirement from professional tennis after the 2024 season. 

2. Juan Martin Del Potro

One of the few players who proved his mettle in the era of dominance of the ‘Big Three,’ Del Potro established his own devastating brand of tennis. His flat and precise forehand was the most explosive aspect of his game and is considered one of the best in the history of tennis. Del Potro won the 2009 US Open title at the age of 20, where he defeated Roger Federer in the finals.

He was the only man to win a Grand Slam between the 2005 Australian Open and 2012 US Open outside the ‘Big Three.’ His other achievements include an Olympic bronze in 2012 and a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.  Del Potro’s career was dictated by numerous career-threatening injuries. He first recovered from two right wrist surgeries in 2014 and made a comeback in 2016.

He won the Indian Wells Masters 1000 title in 2018 and reached a career-high ranking of World No. 3. In 2018, Del Potro sustained a freak injury when he slipped in the middle of a match in Shanghai. He underwent three knee surgeries and tried his best to make a comeback, but was unable to do so. 

Del Potro officially retired in 2022 with 22 ATP singles titles and one doubles title to his name, but his legacy is beyond the titles. He will forever be remembered for his aggressive playing style, playing against arguably the best tennis players in history and still making a mark in the hearts and minds of tennis fans across the world. 

1. Monica Seles

Monica Seles was the youngest player to win a Grand Slam at that time when she won the French Open at the age of 16 in 1990. She went on to win the next seven out of 11 Grand Slams she played. She had won eight Grand Slam titles before turning 20. Seles became World No. 1 in 1991.

She became the poster-girl of women’s tennis and ended the dominance of German tennis star Steffi Graf.  The dethroning of Graf by Seles irked one of Graf’s obsessed German fans named Gunter Parche. During a quarter-final match at the Citizen Cup in 1993 in Hamburg, Gunter ran from the middle of the crowd during a break and stabbed Seles with a kitchen knife between her shoulder blades to a depth of 1.3cm.

She was rushed to the hospital and the injuries took several weeks to heal, but Seles stayed away from competitive tennis for more than two years, as she suffered from depression and eating disorder as a result of the attack. Seles made a return to the tour in 1995 and also won the 1996 Australian Open. But, the consistency in her game was missing and she never fully recovered mentally from this incident.

Her participation at events dwindled gradually and she suffered a foot injury in 2003. She did not play any competitive tennis after that and called it quits officially in 2008. She ended her career with nine Grand Slam titles, but tennis fans believe that the tally would have been much higher if she had not met the unfortunate incident. 

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