Foot Fault!

Earlier on this month, I randomly hopped onto youtube and spent a ridiculous amount of time just bathing in the nostalgia of Juan Carlos Ferrero’s glory days. He was one of the first players I ever followed, and feels like a lifetime ago that he was lifting up that first and lone Grand Slam title at the French Open in 2003. After the joy and relief that he finally broke the duck, I remember genuinely feeling like he would go on to win many more Grand Slams.

But with countless injuries and bad luck (and no thanks to that ‘Rafa’ dude) ever since, things haven’t quite gone to plan. His most recent setback being him forced to go into hospital for both knee and wrist surgery at the end of 2010, and it looked those injuries had finally finished him off for good as he announced that he would be seriously considering retirement at the end of 2011.

In hindsight, we really should have just laughed taken his comments with a pinch of salt. Why? Because, I mean, it’s just not Juan Carlos Ferrero’s style to walk solemnly into the sunset. At all. And he proved it this week by making a mockery of any retirement plans, storming to the title in Stuttgart in his first tournament after two months out. He took out Youzhny en-route before completely creaming Pablo Andujar in the final, 6-4 6-0. Understandably, he was beyond elated afterwards;

“It’s been a dream for me. Came here training without any expectations and I am now the winner. It gives me great confidence in myself and shows that I can win tournaments again after injury. The knee is responding well and everything is perfect.”

Yup. With Juan Carlos Ferrero back winning and free of pain, everything is perfect. Here’s to hoping that it stays this way.