Former grand slam champion, Stan Wawrinka has admitted that he felt lonely during his knee surgery rehab and has revealed that he nearly quit the recovery process.
The current world number nine is currently recovering from his knee surgery that he had in August and has admitted that he felt ‘Lonely’ during the rehab in a recent interview with ‘La Matin.’
“The operations, the immobilism, the fact of being away from the circuit, all that weighs on the morale. Then you feel lonely, I was also lacking the tension and the excitement of the competition,” explained Wawrinka, who is looking to make a comeback in 2018. “It was rather a general feeling. When you go four months of inactivity, you can not walk, you start to put everything into question.”
However things are on the up for Wawrinka and he has revealed he has gained more confidence, “But from the moment I got back to work, I was confident of reaching a certain level. I do not know exactly which level but certainly a real level.”
Will it be the same Wawrinka?
Wawrinka’s recent interview would have put some doubt into some people’s minds as to whether he can reach the level that saw him win three grand slam titles. Doubt can be a dangerous quality for a tennis player as they may not take as many risks with their tennis and may be more conservative with their approach.
Before his injury that he suffered at Wimbledon, Wawrinka had produced some high quality tennis as he reached the Roland Garros final this year. However he now faces a different mental challenge in 2018 with his knee, one that is similar to what Rafael Nadal has to deal. It is a challenge that Wawrinka acknowledges:
“Mentally I have to focus on the knee, I have to be careful not to impose certain movements on the knee. I have to also watch the rest of my body which needs to get used to the changes. In fact, I have to push hard but in a predefined and very rigid way.”
Only time will tell how Wawrinka will deal with these mental challenges as he looks to return to action on the 15th of January when he plays the Australian Open in Melbourne.
