During this time of year in the Northeast, most people refer to almost all unusually warm days as "Indian Summer". Though that's not exactly what Indian Summer is, the thought is still shared.
For the past couple of years, Kane Waselenchuk has missed events directly after the US Open, effectively opening the door for other players in the top 5, providing them with an opportunity to get a Tier 1 championship wins notched into their seasons. Or an opportunity to finish upside of the quarter and semifinals.
This year, it allowed Alvaro Beltran to grab his second career T1 and let Rocky Carson keep a streak going with 6 consecutive seasons with a T1 win. It also provided Jose Rojas with a much-needed opportunity to finish deeper and see light in the way of a final again. Taking nothing away from their movement up the draw and victories, the trending seems to be seasonal. Kane, who basically seems to peak to the level of "untouchable" at the US Open, has been forced out of playing T1 stops right after the Open the past years.
This by no means can be looked at as a crack in Kane's armor. Waselenchuk seems like he can continue maintaining his dominance over the International Racquetball Tour for the next several years. He is managing his injuries in a sense and has been able to keep them from imparting his will on the rest of the IRT field. His training, which I'm speculating to be very customized for his skillset is keeping him in the proper form for his transcendent play. Time between scheduled events and his current ranking keeps him from putting too much wear on his body, especially if he keeps his game lose average so ridiculously low.
The only question I have about this right now is, how many stops will this year's Indian Summer last?