John Manuel Certainly He started this season with great enthusiasm, after a 2021 in which he had added his first title ATP in Cordobain February, had broken into the Top 100, in October, and had had the pleasure of playing the Masters de la Next Gen in Milan in November. In the beginning of this 2022 he continued his rise and at the end of January he reached his best ranking, 79th place. But a recurrent hip problem -which caused two psoas tears and a lot of discomfort- slowed down his progress and turned this year, which promised to be very good for him, into a nightmare. Without continuity, he was losing the ground that he had conquered with so much effort. But today the worst seems to have been left behind and the porteño chooses to focus on the positive and looks forward with optimism.
“If I had to choose a word to summarize this 2022 it would be learning. This year I learned many things and this injury taught me a lot, especially to see things from different perspectives,” he told Clarion in the Racket Clubhours after beating his compatriot 6-2 by a double Hernan Casanovacoming from the qualy, and get into the quarterfinals of the Buenos Aires Challenger.
“I consider myself a realistic person. I look at everything, the positive and the negative. And from there I draw the pros and cons and the conclusions. This season had many negative things, more bad things than good, but I think that always, of everything, you can get the good and you can learn,” he continued.
What is the problem with Cerúndolo? He has a bone in his hip, which caused two tears in his right psoas: the first, in training before the ATP in Córdoba in February and the second, during his first round match at the Murcia Challenger, in April, which he abandoned in the third set. And also several discomforts in that same muscle in recent months. The last one, at the end of July, when he suffered from the injury in the semifinals of the Challenger de Tampereforced him to stop for almost two months (the week after the Finnish tournament, he played without feeling well at Cordenons).
“On top of that, I had been suffering from adductor tendinopathy in my right leg since last year and after the first tear, I had a snapping in the psoas tendon (rubbing against the bone). When that happens, my leg gets stuck, it gives me a strange sensation, difficult to explain and very annoying, that it didn’t let me play. That made me get injured every time I came back,” said the youngest of the Cerúndolo.
And he added: “The injury caught me at the best moment of my career, when I was on the rise. It was very hard, because I had to go back. And go back to look for everything I had achieved last year, which was so difficult. Mentally , that was complicated. But I think that the mental and the physical in this case go hand in hand. The fact of being on a court and feeling bad, puts you in a bad mood and takes you out of your game. You start doing anything and you feel up to a point defeated, because you say: ‘Not that way I can play’. I think the physical and the mental went very hand in hand in this process.”
One of the hardest moments was when they suggested that he undergo hip surgery to solve the problem permanently. So, he sought advice from other tennis players who had similar injuries and ended up getting help from a former world top 3 player.
“When they told me about the surgery I got scared and started to find out a lot about it. The only similar case I had in mind was that of Milos Raonic. I asked for his number, I sent him a message and he was amazing. He helped me. We made a video call and he told me everything, what he needed, what the experience was like, what he should do, he gave me the name of his doctor and that helped me a lot. I thanked him very much. I also spoke with many Argentine players who had had hip issues. And based on that, we later realized that it was not necessary to operate, because everything was fine in the joint, and that it was something more inguinal, more of the tendon, “he recalled.
-Did it cost you to handle frustration and anxiety?
-It was not easy, especially after the first injury. Because I wanted to get back there quickly, but when I came back, I got injured for the second time and that was a very hard blow. I used to think a lot about the ranking, about the goals and I put a lot of pressure on myself. But with the second injury, I relaxed and said ‘That’s it, I’m going to have to take it easier this year.’ So I took the opportunity to improve things about my tennis, I spent more time with my friends, I did things that I didn’t do at another time in my life. I started going to see my sister play (Constanceplayer for Belgrano and The lioness), when in my life I had seen a hockey game. And that helped me get along.
-At some point did you think about taking a break from tennis and focusing only on recovering?
-I did a little, I isolated myself a little from tennis. I used to be obsessive. I was always aware of the ranking, the results, I looked at everything, challengers, ATP… I was thinking and talking about tennis all day. In the last few months I changed that a bit. I didn’t like to talk about tennis off the court, I would come home and start thinking about something else, I hardly even watched matches, just some ATP and my brother’s (Francisco, 27th in the world). Still, I never lost the habits of the elite athlete or professionalism. Every day he went to the gym to work on his leg and played tennis, standing up, as best he could. I think I trained too much, more than I was capable of before, because it was always in my head to compete again. But when training was over, I forgot about tennis.
The recurring aches and pains forced Cerúndolo to adapt. Injured, he couldn’t run all over the pitch as his very defensive style of play required. But that need ended up turning into something positive, because he forced him to make some changes that he had been putting off and that will take his tennis to a new level.
“They were small things that we were incorporating and that now allow me to play more offensively than before. Still, it was something that I had to do to be able to compete in the new ATP level in which I was inserting myself. When I was healthy and could run a lot, I didn’t I needed it so much, until I came to play ATP, that’s when I really realized that I needed it. So it was something we had been trying to do, but it wasn’t easy because my natural game is more defensive and it can’t be changed automatically. With the injury was say ‘Well, there’s no choice.’ Because I came in to play, my leg hurt a little and I thought ‘I have to do something else because I can’t run as usual’but I felt that elements were missing,” he explained.
“Today I feel very good with my game. I’m more confident with my serve, with my forehand, with going up to the net, something I didn’t do before and now I do more. I feel like I have more resources than before,” he assured.
In Buenos Aires, Cerúndolo is playing his second tournament after a break of almost two months. Last week he reached the quarterfinals of the Villa Maria ChallengerCórdoba, and said goodbye when falling before Mariano Navone, then finalist. And this Friday, on the clay of the Racket Club, he will collide with Facundo Bagnis for a spot in the semis. Although the man from Buenos Aires, who fell to 187th place in the ranking and is now 178th, he does not think about results or titles.
“Now there are no goals. After the second injury, which kept me out for a long time, everything about the ranking and the tournaments became secondary. The main thing is to be healthy, as I am now, and have continuity in the game”, assured. “I still have a lot to go, but today nothing hurts, I feel comfortable and I’m gaining more and more confidence. And if I can play several tournaments in a row in the remainder of the year and recover my rhythm, the rest, we’ll see later”.
