WIMBLEDON

June 29, 2000

Paul Annacone

PAUL ANNACONE: Dr. Paul Annacone. No, I mean, if you want any medical terminology or anything, you probably need to talk to the physicians here, and Doug Spreen, the trainer. He has some inflammation, I don't even know the name of the tendon, but it's on his left shin that started kind of mysteriously yesterday. He's got some inflammation and some fluid buildup in there, and stiff and sore. How is that for medical terminology?

PAUL ANNACONE: That's really it.

PAUL ANNACONE: Yeah, he can walk. He's not going to be breaking the 100-meter record today, though.

PAUL ANNACONE: That's the plan.

PAUL ANNACONE: At Wimbledon, yeah.

PAUL ANNACONE: Uh-huh.

PAUL ANNACONE: No. Strange, just kind of came on yesterday out of the blue. It's been a rough go for a while with Pete with injuries, so I think, you know, this is just another kind of hurdle thrown in front of him. It's a matter of just trying to do the best he can. He's in good hands. The doctors think that, you know, they know what's going on. The MRI showed no structural damage with bones or anything.

PAUL ANNACONE: No. I think that's a good thing.

PAUL ANNACONE: I don't know. It's strange. You know, I think if you historically look over tennis players' careers, look at their late 20s, you forget that they started in their mid to late teens. So it is a lot of years that they played. I think, you know, as your body matures and changes - you need to talk to physical sports people more than I - but I think as your body changes, things happen to it. Just like you and I, as we start to get a little bit older, you start to feel different, you start to get susceptible to things. It's a cumulative buildup over the years. It's different for Pete because I think he makes what he does look relatively easily. You know, he's also very aware of his body and he feels things when they're out of sorts. Probably has something to do with it as well.

PAUL ANNACONE: I think, if anything, I would say the other thing. I think maybe he hasn't changed consistently enough over the last ten years. But in the last couple, he's done a pretty good job. He's tried to maintain a pretty good regimen to stay more active and more fit because the tennis stuff will take care of itself when you play matches, but it's the stuff that you need to do maintenance-wise to help alleviate some of that stuff. I could sit here and speculate till I'm blue in the face. Ultimately, you know, we can flip a coin. I'm not a hundred percent sure either way.

PAUL ANNACONE: Acute tendonitis in the left foot?

PAUL ANNACONE: Not in the MRI I saw.

PAUL ANNACONE: No, there's a sheath around the tendon that runs down the front of your shin, and the sheath protects the tendon, and it rubs up and down. The sheath has fluid buildup and inflammation. Ask the doctor. That may be the tendonitis. It's not in his foot, it's in his shin. But the tendon looks really good. There's no tears or anything like that. It's sore. It hurts like heck. You know, it's a matter of seeing how much it progresses over the next 24 hours.

PAUL ANNACONE: He is resilient, so it's a matter of doing the best he can. You know, he could sit here and say, "Why me? Why this? Why always me? Why has it been like this lately?" You just try to figure out what happened, try to deal with it. You know, look, I could throw a thousand cliches at it, but it's about trying to deal with adversity. When he plays well here and he feels well, I think historically we've seen what happens. So it's a matter of trying to do it another way.

PAUL ANNACONE: Yeah, but I think that historically happens here at times. If you look every year, there's always gaps. This year it's happened more. I think I understand why. The biggest reason is there's not a lot of grass court tournaments so there's not a lot of guys that feel real comfortable playing on grass, number one. Number two, there's a lot of really good players. I think a lot of guys can play well on a given day. That has happened here, as it seems to annually. But Pete is very good at worrying about who he plays now. I don't think he's about to start thinking otherwise. All he really wants to do is give himself the best chance to get through tomorrow.

PAUL ANNACONE: He said, "It really hurts." No, he didn't think about stopping. I mean, I don't think he did. But it was a matter of being able to just try to see what you can do on your serve and hope to get a break or two. You know, he just did a good job to get through it, against I think one of the better players in the world, regardless of what his ranking says. So now it's just a matter of trying to look to tomorrow.

PAUL ANNACONE: I think that's why they did the MRI. It's not one of these things where he wants to play and he's not going to be able to play for six months, as I'm sure Captain McEnroe wouldn't like either. But, you know, you don't know. You don't know what's going to happen. He wants to stay healthy and he wants to get healthy and remain that way. You know, this is Wimbledon; he's going to do whatever he can to try to play.

PAUL ANNACONE: Won't be a problem. I mean, if he doesn't hit a ball on any of the off days, it won't faze me at all, as long as can he play.

PAUL ANNACONE: That's had as many (laughter)? I don't know. Pete is who I know the best. He internalizes a lot. A lot of it, you probably don't even know half of what's going on. You know, when it comes to big events and major events, he tries to do whatever he can, regardless of the situation. He generally does that pretty well. But he also is such a big-picture guy that he hates to do something that may hurt him for the next 12 months. I think that's what really scared him. Last year at the US Open when he herniated his disc, that was the first time since he's done his ankle years and years ago that he had seen his mortality. I think to an athlete, that's very sobering.

PAUL ANNACONE: Yeah, yeah. I think he plays through it pretty well.

PAUL ANNACONE: Since five minutes to 3:00 yesterday when he walked on the practise court.

PAUL ANNACONE: (Shaking head.)

PAUL ANNACONE: We can't -- no. Can't figure it out.

PAUL ANNACONE: No. It started when he went to hit yesterday right before the match.

PAUL ANNACONE: Yeah, it did. Started getting more and more sore with the pounding. You need to ask the doctors, but I think it's from trying to start and stop a lot.

PAUL ANNACONE: Five minutes after he started warming up for his match yesterday.

PAUL ANNACONE: Grimaces and kind of poking and prodding at his shin.

PAUL ANNACONE: Well, it just depends. It's just a subjective thing, you know. I can tell you my body feels like crap 90% of the time when I wake up in the morning. I mean, I played ten years on the tour. I've had a herniated disc in my back. I've got all kinds of things. I don't know what he physically feels like. But compared to certain people, his tolerance is very high. Probably compared to a lot of football players, they're saying, "What's the big deal?" I think everything is relative, but unfortunately with people like Pete, I think things like that tend to make a lot of news. That's probably why he doesn't like to talk about it a lot. That's why I said he probably has a lot more going on than he even really wants to say. He'd rather people focus what's on the court. But, yeah, if you give me five minutes, I could argue either side to you.

PAUL ANNACONE: Yeah, or not.

PAUL ANNACONE: I think what happens historically, when you have injuries, you always compensate. But I asked the doctors that, and they didn't think that this was a compensation thing. I don't know. It's a guess.

PAUL ANNACONE: Yeah.

PAUL ANNACONE: I mean, Justin is a dangerous player. He knows him well; played him before in the past. He knows in the third round of any Grand Slam event, you better be ready to play. Justin is dangerous. He has a big game. You know, he's beaten two players to get here, so he knows that it's a match that is winnable for him. I think he knows how Justin plays, so he knows what he needs to do. He also knows he can't just walk on the court and win by default, so he needs to show up.

PAUL ANNACONE: No, huh-uh. I mean, he's going to do whatever he can. Once the doctor said that the tendon is fine, the ligaments, the bone structure. It hurts. I said, "He seems to be in a lot of pain." He said, "Well, yeah, that's the nature of what's going on." Once we talked to them, I think we felt - or I felt - better. But, again, you're always afraid for the long-term effects. No one can guarantee anything. It's just a matter of trying to put that behind you, do whatever can you to play the match.

PAUL ANNACONE: I don't know exactly what the medication formula is going to be. I think he's just taking antiinflammatories, icing, getting treatment at the court. As far as I know, I think he's just going to do whatever he can to, you know, get out there and play.

PAUL ANNACONE: To what?

PAUL ANNACONE: I guess until they call his match on the court. As far as I know, he's going to play, unless he tells me otherwise later.

PAUL ANNACONE: You need to ask the doctor, but I think it's more just painful. I think it could make a worst case of a tendonitis type thing. I don't think it's something that all of a sudden, you know -- I don't know. Yeah, sure, it could make it last longer. But whether or not, in fact, that happens, I don't know. It may just dissipate with the treatments they're doing as well, how much time he has to get therapy, how long his matches last, that kind of stuff. That needs to be asked to the doctor.

PAUL ANNACONE: I haven't even, to be honest with you, looked.

PAUL ANNACONE: Sure, I think it helped. I think he also won one year where he had a really bad, really bad ankle, that I don't even know if you guys knew about, where he probably didn't even hit on the day before the semis or finals.

PAUL ANNACONE: I think one year when he beat Goran in the finals in three sets. I think maybe his first year.

PAUL ANNACONE: Yeah. I mean, he's done it before in perfect conditions and not. It's a matter of just accepting what's thrown at you and see what you can do. If he can't do it, he can't do it. That's just the way it is.

PAUL ANNACONE: No, he won't hit today. Mental practise (smiling).

PAUL ANNACONE: Yeah, his back is fine. He'll go home and mentally prepare.

PAUL ANNACONE: Yeah.

PAUL ANNACONE: I guess, ask the doctor. Maybe the tendon goes down the shin into the foot. I don't know the terminology. I just saw the picture and I know where the pain is in Pete's leg. The pain is not in his foot. The picture that I saw, there was a little bit of inflammation in a tendon that's above your ankle at the start of your shin.

PAUL ANNACONE: Yeah. That wasn't your foot. Maybe that's why you guys need to talk to the doctor. Maybe that tendon runs around and down into the foot. I don't know. To me, the problem is not in his foot.

PAUL ANNACONE: Give us time. What day is today (laughter)? No, I don't think he's had elbow problems. He's had a few, but he's an old-timer now.