At match point in a hard-fought second-round U.S. Open contest between German Sabine Lisicki and Australian Anastasia Rodionova, Rodionova ran Lisicki out wide. Lisicki got to the ball, hit a defensive forehand slice, and fell to the court. Rodionova returned the ball to win the match 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, but Lisicki stayed down, crying out in pain and disappointment before eventually being taken off the court in a wheelchair (click here for a link to a video of the point). She had rolled her left ankle, ending the point, her bid at the 2009 U.S. Open, and probably competition for her in general until the injury heals.

While tennis isn’t a sport like hockey or football, where players really beat each other up, that doesn’t mean it isn’t high impact. Pounding on the court, quick starts and stops, the heightened stress of matches, it all takes a huge toll on the body. And there’s no better place to learn this than the interview rooms at the last Slam of the year, the U.S. Open. The pros have spent nine months pushing their bodies to the limit, and in those rooms, player after player is grilled by the press about this strain or that sprain in the thigh, ankle, foot, abdomen, shoulder, you name it.

Most of them keep their mouths shut. Venus Williams responded to questions about an injury in her left knee by saying, “Oh, you know, I don’t talk about my injuries very much. I think everyone knows that now. I don’t dwell on them. I just do my best.”

There are pretty good reasons for this zipped-lip policy. First, complaints of injury can tip off competition that a player’s movement might be off or to hit to a particular wing. Second, if a player complains of an injury, it’s often seen as an excuse for bad performance and a knock against an opponent’s rightful win.

The only thing that’s probably more frustrating than answering the press’ questions about injuries (though, in our defense, we have to ask them—the physical capabilities of the body are a huge part of sports), is dealing with the injuries themselves. Professional athletes’ bodies are their breadwinners, so the uncertainty of injury can be exasperating. Just ask Maria Sharapova, who returned this year after a nine-month injury time-out. Last August, an MRI revealed that she had small tears in her right rotator cuff. It was an injury she had been dealing with all year, and that had gone undiagnosed the previous April in another MRI scan. She stopped competing and tried to rehab the shoulder, and after that didn’t work, she underwent surgery last October and didn’t return to the tour until May. The road to recovery can be long, indeed.

You couldn’t help but feel for Lisicki, writhing in pain and disappointment with her face in her hands as trainers surrounded her and stands full of spectators looked on. A lot of things were probably running through her head. After sitting through interviews where pros field questions about the state of their bodies and their injuries old and new, I can only imagine one of those questions was, How long will this one take to come back from? For Lisicki’s sake, hopefully not long.