When I last reported on child prodigy Jan Silva, his parents were contemplating divorce and the entire family had returned to the U.S. from France, where they had relocated in 2006 to pursue their tennis dreams.

In the course of reporting that story (see this link), Jan’s father, Scott Silva, told me that he had kept his son away from tennis for several months after a particularly noisome tantrum. That seemed like an awfully harsh punishment for a 7-year-old who loved to swat balls almost as soon as he learned to walk. Later, the tennis instructor at a local Sacramento club who was working with Jan and his older brother confirmed me that “Jani” had arrived in California with little tennis under his belt the last six months – but he told me it was due to a shoulder injury.

“That’s a lot of time for someone his age (to be off),” remarked Joseph Gilbert, tennis director at the Rio Del Oro Racquet Club. “When he came back he hadn’t played much. It’s kind of like he’s starting over.” I went back to Silva to check on the injury. He told me there was no injury. Gilbert then also called me back and said he’d had his info wrong. It was a little odd.


More recently, an anonymous caller phoned to say that the Silva family had left the Mouratoglou Academy in France not for personal reasons -- the explanation both Scott Silva and academy officials gave -- but because Jan was injured. The caller even said Jan had undergone surgery. A 7-year-old under the knife? That was troubling, so I decided to find out what I could.

In conversations over the last week with both Silva and Patrick Mouratoglou, the  owner/founder of his eponymous academy in the Paris suburbs, I learned that Jan, the subject of a July 2007 USA Today cover story, did in fact have a shoulder injury on his right (serving/dominant) side. Both flatly denied that any surgery was involved. “No, no, no, never,” said Silva. “That is a huge, huge, huge error.”

Silva reiterated that he kept Jan away from tennis for several months due to his ongoing tantrums. But he backtrack somewhat from his earlier statements. He admitted that his son’s shoulder had signs of problems even though Jan was healthy and could have continued to play tennis.

“We pulled him away from playing because there was the possibility that his shoulder could have problems,” he said. “What the (French doctor) told me in his broken English is that his shoulder is fine but that if he continues to play tennis lots and lots and lots over a long period of time, by the time he turns 12 at this rate he could develop problems, which is true of any kid in any sport. But because I have a special kid, I’m thinking it’s better to make sure I take special care of him.”

According to Mouratoglou, Jan hurt his shoulder in an “accident” and was kept away from tennis for about eight weeks, though he continued to do other sports like soccer. “He fell, not playing tennis but with kids, but it was not something really bad,” said Mouratoglou. “We had to prevent him from playing for a few weeks….It’s not a problem to stop for eight weeks when you are that young. It’s nothing at all.” Mouratoglou also said Jan’s injury had been reported in the French sports daily L’Equipe, which has also followed the young American’s story. The information about surgery, he added, was “completely untrue.”

Mouratoglou wasn’t sure of the exact nature of the injury, so he checked with his medical staff and came back with a diagnosis of  “acromioclavicular sprain with a slight distension” – a shoulder sprain, in layman’s terms.  I asked a friend of mine who is an orthopedic surgeon about this diagnosis. He told me the acromioclavicular area encompasses the joint where the collarbone meets the shoulder blade, and sits right above the rotator cuff. He told me these injuries are quite common in kids that fall from bikes or whatnot. He also said that if this area were distended or irritated, the rotator cuff is usually involved, which, in turn, could be a component of overuse or tendinitis.

Both Silva and Mouratoglou defended Jan’s training and insisted he that he had not overplayed. “I don’t feel like that at all,” said Silva. “I feel like I created an opportunity for Jan that had never been heard of in tennis and will probably never happen again.”

Mouratoglou said Jan never trained more than 2.5 hours a day and that, as with most kids, he could have played much more. “Really, to be honest, not at all,” he answered when I asked if he felt that all the tennis might have been too much for Jan’s young body. “I’ve seen thousands of kids and I can tell you that most of them play much more….(Playing) the same sport for more than 2-3 hours a day at that age creates body problems. But if he plays two hours tennis, one hour soccer, one hour basketball, it’s OK.”

The good news is that Jan is back playing. As the Silva family continues to pick up the life they left in Northern California, Jan has been competing in 10- and 12-and-under events, according to his father. On-court meltdowns are still a issue, Silva said, and Jan yet to win a tournament, but he did reach a final this summer. The youngster’s ambition is intact. Silva says Jan has been talking about “winning majors by age 16.” Meantime, Silva said the family plans to lay low. “I want to stay out of the public whatever for the next 20 years until Jan does something special,” Silva said.