Valencia.- On May 18, 2021, Pablo Andújar achieved one of the most impressive victories of his career. He beat Roger Federer in Switzerland, to the teacher in his home. But that’s not the only reason it was special. A few years before, In April 2017, Andújar was fed up, heading to the operating room for the third time to have surgery on a stubborn tendon in his right elbow. “I can’t take it anymore,” he told his wife.Cristina, then about to give birth to the first of their four children together.
At that time, he believed not, but Andújar (Cuenca, January 1986) could do more. In fact, he had the surgery three more times. And he achieved it: he returned to tennis, to feeling like a tennis player and even lifting a trophy. Now hang up the racket proud and with his head held high. Four titles remain behind, number 32 in the ATP ranking as the ceiling and the semis of the 2013 Mutua Madrid Open and the 2015 Barcelona final as indelible memories.
He opens the doors of the Valencia Tennis Club, his home, where he retired in the Faulcombridge Cup, to receive Relevo and review his career. He talks about the darkest moments of the injury, his resurrection, that victory with Federer that he never imagined, the tennis player’s selfishness and education, his fears and friendships.
Why this place? What does it mean to you?
The Valencia Tennis Club is the club I have been in since I was twelve years old. I think it is my second home, and it is a very special place for me, because I played my first professional tournament here when they started the Faulcombridge Cup in 2002, they gave me a wildcard to play the preview and 21 years later I play my last professional tournament here.
Is withdrawal another moment of sadness or joy?
They are mixed feelings. Logically there is the sadness of never feeling what that adrenaline is like before a game and you think ‘damn, I’m never going to feel that again’. But at the same time I think it is the right time, as the years go by I have other motivations and I think it was the right time. And that’s why the other feeling is a bit of relief, of tranquility and of starting a new stage of my life.
Do you leave the racket alone, without anything to blame yourself for?
I think so. Personally, I haven’t stopped to reflect much either, but I would have been more annoyed if at a given moment after the 2015 injury I had stopped playing. You are always left with that thorn in the side of what my career would have been like without that injury. But it is true that when I started again in 2015, I am happy with how I came back afterwards. Those five years are a bit of a gift to my career. I’m quite proud.
How does the elbow ordeal begin?
It was in 2014 in Acapulco. It started to hurt and I continued playing like that for a year and a half until Gstaad 2015, just after playing in a Davis Cup. I made a serve and noticed that my tendon broke a little. That’s where the whole ordeal began a little. Because the thing is that later that tendon was fine, it was supposed to be fine, but it continued to hurt me, so that uncertainty was what hurt me the most mentally. Because I was doing the whole process, following everything the doctors told me, and I couldn’t cure myself.
How many different diagnoses did they give you?
There were two or three different diagnoses. Later, there were six operations on the elbow, which was many for three years. There were six operations, there were many. And it is true that my elbow was never the same, but at the same time I was able to be competitive for a time and I even won an ATP title, which, well, that whole ordeal that I went through for two and a half years later was worth it. .
There is the physical pain and then the psychological pain. How did you handle that part?
The worst thing is the uncertainty, as I say, the feeling of not having control of that situation. No matter how much I trained, I didn’t know if it was going to hurt again. It’s a fairly common thing, people who get injured sometimes follow the process, but things don’t go the way they want and they can’t recover 100%. So, in this case I continued. I remember the third operation, which was the one with which I began to see the light a little bit, and I remember telling my wife: ‘Well, this is the last operation because I can’t take it anymore, I have already done everything I have done. I have’. It had been there for two years and I was about to throw in the towel. But little by little it got better, so I kept trying. I kept trying mainly because I didn’t blame myself for anything. To say: I am calm because I have done everything I could do.
What did your wife and family tell you?
They simply gave me support, because in the end I don’t think they can do much. They see that you are suffering, so they also have a hard time. Support, especially emotional support, darling. It is true that in this process, in 2017, my son was born, which changed my perspective on life, and that also helps me put that injury into perspective.
Did you need psychological help at any time?
Psychological help in terms of looking for a professional, no; But it is true that I needed help because I was not having a good time. It was a boring time and you also see that the calendar continues, that the tournaments continue and that you are at home without being able to enjoy, without being able to compete, without being able to do what you like.
You even end up without a ranking. Then you come back and win in Marrakech
Yeah, look, I’m getting goosebumps. I had a really bad time in that period, and then I won Marrakech, I also won in Villena… Two weeks before I had lost in the previous phase of a Challenger Tournament, so I was still in that recovery process. I felt very, very proud. When you win the tournament, you say: ‘That suffering was worth it.’
And then in 2021, life gives you a victory against Federer. What do you remember about that?
I remember when the painting came out. I was in this club and I remember telling one of the members: ‘If I win a match, I’ll play Federer and I’ve never played against him.’ I remember playing against Thompson, who was the first opponent, we were 6-1 and 5-4 with serve and it started to rain. I was super nervous because I say: ‘Damn, if I win this game, I’ll play Federer.’ I had never played with it and simply the fact was a gift. And when I won that match, I freed myself and said, ‘Tomorrow, whatever God wants.’ Indeed, I played a great game. Roger logically was not at the level of the Roger that we all remember, but I really played a very good game and it is one of the things that will remain with me as one of the greatest gifts of my career. Beyond beating him, but being able to have played and competed against him… Because we had met in many tournaments for many years but I had never played against him.
What makes Federer so special?
I believe that magic. That magic that he has, that elegance that makes him look like a dancer when he is playing. I think that is the most special thing, that it turns what is difficult into very easy, that originality that Rafa may not have or Novak does not have, Roger had that. That also made him a great player, one different from the others.
What will happen to tennis when none of the Big Three are there anymore?
Well, I personally think that those of us who are nostalgic, those of us who like those fights and those anthological matches, are going to have a hard time. But seeing the audience data, seeing the data of people who go to watch the matches, to the tournaments, which are growing more and more and more, I hope that we don’t have a bad time as a tennis industry. I think it is a sport that continues to rise and that when Novak, Rafa and Roger are not there, then Carlitos comes, there is Medvedev, there is Tsitsipas, there is Rune, Sinner, Ruud… We have so many players and so many different personalities that I also think that It’s going to be very interesting.
Can you define Nadal in one sentence?
Nadal is perseverance in person, never giving up. And that means that it affects not only the tennis players, but also society, a little of their way of seeing things and their way of acting. He is an example for society.
Tennis players have a certain social responsibility. Have you ever felt that pressure? Have you ever held back, for example when breaking a racket, because you had to be an example?
I personally have not been a very media guy either. I think this is felt more by the bigger players, but it’s true that yes, you have to behave well, of course. And you have to set an example. One of the values that tennis has or that emanates from tennis is that. Being a gentleman, behaving well on the court. It’s what makes tennis so different from other sports.
It also has the uniqueness of being individual and solitary. Do you have to be selfish to be a good tennis player?
I don’t know if you have to be, but tennis leads you to be a little bit. So, yes, I think so, that the tennis player has to think for himself, he has to think for and for himself, he has to live for and for himself and for his sport. Which does forge that personality in you and makes you, I don’t know if it’s selfish, because selfish has a negative touch, but it does make you someone who is autonomous and who has to fight for his interest.
Have you ever felt afraid on the track?
I don’t know if fear is the word, but nerves, a lot of them and in all the games. Fear perhaps as the years go by, well not anymore, because you relativize much more, and you know that, if you lose or if you do a performance that is not good, nothing happens. In the end you leave the track and you are still the same, but there are a lot of nerves. And I think that without that little fear or those nerves you don’t play well at all.
Are you taking tennis friends?
Many. Yes, of course, of course. Let’s see, the word friend is very strong, but yes, I have many friends. I believe that very strong relationships are formed that during the tennis stage it is more difficult to consolidate, but I think that now that that competitiveness has passed, all those years you have been living with many people make a friendship forge.
Finally, Pablo. What would you change about your career if you could go back?
I would change many things. For example, decisions that you make thinking it is the best and then you look back and say: ‘Well, that wasn’t what I had to do at that time.’ I’m talking to you about a change of coach or how to play a tournament or choose a calendar or not play it. But I think they are decisions that you learn from later. In other words, it is part of learning, of your experience and then making a decision that will be correct and successful. So, I’m sure I would change a lot of things, but then it wouldn’t be me. It wouldn’t be the person you’re talking to.
2023-11-22 06:01:08
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