Kevin Andersonretired 16 months ago and now has no world ranking, is in the quarterfinals at ATP on Newport grass, his comeback tournament. The 37-year-old South African and former world number 5 defeated the Canadian in the first round gabriel diallo (6-3, 6-2) and the Dutch Gijs Brouwer in the round of 16, 6-3, 7-6 (6).
Until this week, Anderson had not played a tournament since March 2022 at Miami Masters 1,000where he lost in the 1st round against the Argentine Juan Manuel Cerundolobut decided to try his luck again on the circuit a few months ago.
“When I retired it was difficult. I had a lot of physical pain. Many parts of my body made it difficult for me to compete as I wanted, but also emotionally and mentally it was very difficult and I felt that I had to stop playing,” Anderson said on the ATP website.
“When I retired I didn’t know if I would play again or not. Most of last year I had no intention, but a couple of months ago I started hitting it again and I really enjoyed playing,” added the South African, winner of seven titles. ATP played in 20 finals, two of them from grand slam: lost against Rafael Nadal within US Open 2017 and new Novak Djokovic in Wimbledon’2018.
“My body feels very good and what I do with the tennis ball is really exciting for me, it made me want to challenge myself again. I don’t know if I will have that opportunity, but in luckily Newport gave it to me, so I want to get out there and play again,” insisted Anderson, who plans to play more tournaments throughout the year.
Source: La Verdad
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