Kodama Blogs: David Nalbandian Fat

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

David Nalbandian Fat

Flashback. On May 13, 2009 David was wheeled to the operating room at the Clínica CIMA in Barcelona (sorry, I think I initially typed Buenos Aires out of sheer habit), wondering whether after the hip surgery he was about to undergo he'd be able to leave the hospital on his own two feet. Knowing that this kind of surgery had ended tennis careers before but also knowing that it was his only chance of continuing to play. The surgery was a success, there were no complications, and immediately afterwards David was able to start with the first exercises. Taking the first steps - on crutches but on his own two feet - down the long road towards his comeback on the Tour.

But although his hip surgery was successful and would eventually enable David to move, train and play matches without the pain that had previously tormented him for over a year, it was also clear that this operation was going to have an impact on the rest of his career. It just wasn't clear how that impact would manifest itself.

By now, it is. Only 58 matches over the course of one and a half seasons, a total of 15 tournaments missed (including four out of seven Slams) due to physical problems, ranging from exhaustion to hernia and the double surgery he had in March. On average, David gets to play less than 10 matches between one injury pause and the next. The majority of which, including the current one, have been caused by muscular injuries, hamstring and especially adductor problems. So far, those injuries occurred when David played on clay (Buenos Aires 2010, Monte Carlo 2010, Davis Cup R1 2011). Now it has also happened on grass, and after the surgery in March that was supposed to put an end to injuries like that. I can't tell whether any mistakes were made, be it by the doctors or by David's team. But what's obvious is that they still haven't found a way of keeping these injuries from happening.