Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, it did.
Dina was forced to retire at 1-1 in the first set against JJ due to a back problem. In her presser she said she's been suffering with the back injury for three months now and has been on anti-inflamatories and cortisone injections to try and play Doha:
"It's my low back, I have inflammation there in the bone," 23-year-old Safina said. "I've been playing on in pain, on anti-inflammatories, on everything. It's been about three months. My body just gave up. I did everything possible to play here. I went yesterday to put injections, cortisone, but I could not handle this pain any more. I think I should have taken a break after the US Open but I was chasing this number one, so I was fighting with my body. Maybe I had to stop after the US Open."
Tough to say whether she should have stopped after the USO. I mean, obviously she should have but I'm sure it was a difficult call to make at the time. More on this on the podcast.
But the upshot is that Serena gets the year-end #1 and JJ is given a match. I'm sure that works out well for both of them.
