Does hosting a Grand Slam stymie nations' players? More mail

I just read the mailbag that included a question from Phil of Philadelphia about players from a Slam's host nation being unable to win their home Slam. He claimed they had too much pressure on them. You claimed the non-Slam nations gave their players more determination and less coddling. But let's be clear here -- this is total coincidence. If these otherwise great players were crumbling under the pressure of being the hometown favorite, then Andy Murray would have won the U.S. Open, Andy Roddick the Aussie Open, etc., majors where they don't share the nationality of the host nation. This is simply a case of a fairly huge gap between the top three guys and the rest of the pack, and nothing more. If being from Spain or Serbia makes a player so determined to succeed, why hasn't a Spaniard (Mallorcan?) other than Rafael Nadal, or a Swiss other than Roger Federer, won a major in recent memory? Winning majors is just plain hard. France hosts a major and has a lot of guys in the top 50. The fact that none of these guys has won the French has little to do with them being coddled by the nanny state (as you sort of put it -- sarcastically, I assume) and more to do with the fact that the same three guys (plus Juan Martin del Potro) are winning ALL the majors. No way to prove this, but my gut (very reliable in the realm of consequence-free speculation) tells me that if Federer, Nadal and Novak Djokovic were from anywhere, they'd still be winning ALL the majors.
-- Paul R., Boston

• I was with you at first. And I agree coincidence is a big factor. As a rule, we hate randomness and luck. "S--- happens" may play to the Zen crowd, but the rational humanists want explanations that make sense. Yet maybe champion tennis just ... happens.

One look at Federer's parents and you don't peg them to spawn a one-in-a-billion sports prodigy. "Nurture" hardly solves the riddle. His parents encouraged him to play less tennis growing up and to explore other interests. His training was just adequate until his teen years, playing at a local club, riding his bike to the courts. Not exactly a hothouse flower.

Several years later, another prodigy -- equally unlikely -- comes of age in Mallorca, an island that is truly insular. Genetics favor him a bit more. He has a hard-charging, ambitious, eccentric uncle. But, again, who could have seen this coming? As far as a blueprint for developing a champion goes, the warning label would read: Don't try this at home. A well-heeled tennis nation could invest unlimited funds in unlimited prospects -- and not replicate these two results.

But I still say we ought to examine why the four wealthiest tennis countries are having such a hard time minting champions. It's not simply that they have immense financial advantage that other countries (not fortunate to host a Slam) cannot access. There's the attention and focus that comes with hosting an international event for two weeks every year. That these countries haven't been able to alchemize that (while smaller countries such as Serbia have been so successful) is worth exploring. That's all.

In response to Ramkumar's point about Nadal never defending a major outside of the French: Well, yes that is true, whereas Federer has defended three of the four majors. But I think the bigger point is that Nadal has never defended ANY title off clay in his career. That, to me, is a very surprising stat.
-- Michelle, Los Angeles

• Wow. Thanks. I don't believe I'd ever heard that. I suppose we could say he put together a 20-match winning streak at Wimbledon. (He won in 2008, didn't play in 2009, won in 2010 and reached the final in 2011.)

Does anyone deny the fact that the 2008 Wimbledon men's final was allowed to continue too long after darkness had fallen? Don't you agree with this in your own book?
-- Patrick Preston, Chicago, Ill.

• I agree that it was exceedingly dark; the darkest conditions I've ever seen for a professional match. But I don't think there was much of an alternative. What were they going to do, suspend play at 7-7, with tension (and television viewership) at its highest, and tell everyone -- the players, the fans, the parking lot attendants -- to return the following day for what could be 15 minutes of play?

Before Nadal served at 8-7, both players were told that it would be the final game. For symbolic (and literary) purposes, there was something fitting about the greatest match ever ending as the last flecks of light left the sky. But, more important, I think an inconvenience that affects both players simultaneously can be distinguished from an inconvenience (say, a slick spot on end of the court) that affects the players by turns.

The AP reported that Nadal's opting not to play at Queen's Club in 2012 because he could lose money from the country's stringent tax laws on prize money, appearance fees and worldwide endorsement earnings. He's played there five out of the past six years. Are these laws new? Did Nadal's net worth skyrocket recently that would make that tax unbearable?
-- Dawn, Chicago

• Do we have a tax law expert in Britain who could help us? Love to hear a policy defense. I know that, ironically, it was Andre Agassi who fought this battle several years ago and lost. Check out the headline on this piece.

And if you're interested, here's a decision in the Agassi case.

I was wondering what the latest injury status is on Paul Henri Mathieu. I know he had a knee injury and was hoping to find out when he might return. I liked watching his power baseline game and had hoped that if (or when) he returned he might finally get past his underachieving.
-- Rick Atkins, Mission Viejo, Calif.

• Several of you have asked about PHM (new rule, thanks to Dominique Strauss Kahn, every three-named Frenchmen now faces initializing). The Mighty Greg Sharko (MGS, as it were) turned us on to this Q&A, translated from French. Here are some highlights:

Q: How are you and when can we expect you back on court?
A: I'm better than a few months ago. I still feel some pain, but that's normal after the surgery. I don't have an idea about when I will be back. Hopefully next season. But I haven't been told anything. Some weeks are ok. Others not that much. I haven't set a goal about when I will return. If I can play club matches with TC Paris I will do it. But I think it's a bit early.

Q: What's your state of mind right now?
A: This is a second career. The first one is completely behind me. I will be happy to be back on court without pain and wirhout a specific goal.

Q: Did you think about quitting tennis during this break?
A: Yes of course. That's human. You ask yourself the question before the surgery and afterwards too. Will you be strong enough to restart from zero? To face the pain?

Q: Today you are ranked 393. Is that scaring?
A: The ranking is really secondary. I will end up without one anyway. Basle was my last event and I won't play again before that. I will get a protected ranking around 90. When that finishes I will ask for wild cards. I think that I will reach a good level.

Robin Soderling pulled out of two Asian tournaments with mono. Is it just me, or do tennis players have the worst luck with mono?
-- Landon, Chapel Hill, N.C.

• More fodder for completely unscientific theory that the rash of ailments is attributable, yes, to an unprecedented level of on-court "grueling" but also to unprecedented travel requirements that weaken immune systems.