“I thought it was over? Well yes”

Pablo Carreno32 years old and former world number 10, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel after 14 months without playing on the ATP circuit. After the best success of his career, the Olympic bronze in Tokyo’2021 and the Canadian Masters 1,000’2022, the Asturian is suffering the longest absence of his career due to an elbow injury. Operated on November 2, he had an idea that reappeared before Roland Garros.

How are you?

No more pain. This week it has been a contact with a very high ball rhythm and it is very good. I finished without any discomfort and I am happy, gaining more confidence. I’m feeling fine, but I need to get over that little bit of fear to dare to hit the ball and see that it doesn’t hurt.

His last ATP match starts in February 2023.

The discomfort started during the 2022 Davis Cup Finals and it got better, but in January 2023 I had another injury, a humerus, a muscle tear in the forearm, my elbow was bothering me again. So I had to go very slowly and I started a very long and very difficult period because I didn’t know when I would be able to come back again. A stem cell treatment helped me and I played two challengers in October, but by the second game I felt really sick. I tried everything and then we decided to do surgery.

What exactly does he have?

When I had the surgery, they found the problem exactly and fixed it. It’s tendinitis, which sometimes bothers you and sometimes doesn’t. This is a very delicate area for a tennis player. If I wasn’t a tennis player, I wouldn’t have had the surgery, but since my idea was to be able to play and now I’m pain-free, we meet the deadlines.

Is he fully recovered?

The injury, in theory, healed, but the scar also had to adapt to the movements. I am happy because the evolution is going well. I’m ready to test myself at 100%, but I can’t go from 0 to 100. My arm is holding the high speed of the ball and, if everything goes well, I can compete in a month. The idea is to play a tournament before Roland Garros.

With so many months without a solution, did you think it was over?

Well yes, I’m not going to lie, you don’t know when you’ll be back and mentally you’re getting very worn out. There were moments when things seemed to be going well, I hoped and then boom, another bucket of cold water. That takes a lot out of you mentally, you overthink things. It means a lot to me. You can’t get it out of your mind anytime soon. That’s where you need your people to distract you. I had to disconnect and stop thinking about recovery because it was exhausting me so much.

Is it more for Asturias?

Yes, I went more to Asturias and traveled more in Spain, I made some trips to Almería, Córdoba. It was good to disconnect, I enjoyed other things. You can’t decide when to get hurt and, unfortunately, it happened to me there: I’m probably in the best moment of my career because I just won an Olympic medal, the Montreal Masters 1,000, I’m close to the top-10 again.

Do you hope to return to playing at the same level as before?

Now in practice I see that I have a level. The level is not completely gone, but there are many things to do. Thinking back, I think there will be no problem, being a year and a half away from the circuit might be good for me to see that I want to be there again.

What has affected you the most on the circuit during this time?

Nothing really surprises me. The youngsters are coming out that when it’s my turn to play with them I won’t recognize them. There are players on another level. It’s surprising that Djokovic didn’t lower the bar. The sinner made a leap in quality and Tsitsipas seems to be coming back.

And now Carlos Alcaraz is there.

Carlos was 15 years old when he entered the Academy and he trained him a lot. Carlos is a born talent, he loves tennis, he loves to train and improve.

Is Carlos worried about his injury?

Last week I saw him at Academy Worried? Man, he’s so young, he’s got an injury that he doesn’t know what it is, because nothing serious comes out of tryouts, and that’s what always worries you. I hope he comes back soon.

Rafa Nadal is in the final stages of his career.

Life does not forgive anyone. Rafa is making a huge effort to try to get back and say goodbye to the slopes. It seemed like they were going to bury him 10 years ago, but he went on and won again after many injuries. Seeing him in Barcelona was a joy. He already said, he’s not up to three hours tute, but little by little. I hope I reach Roland Garros at 100% and why not develop another one?

Spanish tennis and other players miss you too.

Maybe this is how we start appreciating the past. When I entered the top-100, 15 Spaniards were still in the top-100, but it seems normal because we have been like this for many years. We hardly celebrated other titles because Rafa won two or three Grand Slams every year. Now maybe we will spend again because Spain has less resources than other countries. I hope I can come back and I hope there are many more players who get stronger from the bottom.

His Olympic bronze in Tokyo was one of his greatest moments and this year came the Paris Games.

I watched the Olympic Games when I was young. I didn’t go to Rio 2016 because, as 28th in the world, I was the sixth Spaniard and I was left out of the four. It was very important for me to go to Tokyo and it caught me at a very good moment, at a very high level. I won a well-deserved medal beating Medvedev and Djokovic. After that medal, I was even more excited to enjoy the Paris Games. For me it was always a little goal: to get out of this injury to try to reach Paris, I have a chance at the protected rank. I hope to be together, play well. The main thing is to recover and get there because I can’t walk either.