By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Friday, October 18, 2024
Picture credit score: Clive Brunskill/Getty
New balls please was as soon as an ATP slogan.
Just lately, it was a really scary risk for Andrey Rublev.
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Talking to the media on the Stockholm Open, Rublev shared the well being scare he suffered within the aftermath of a bodily five-set loss to Grigor Dimitrov final month.
In each male athlete’s worst nightmare, Rublev suffered testicular trauma.
Or as Rublev bluntly summed up: “I nearly misplaced my ball.”
The reigning Madrid champion felt ache in his testicle following that five-set US Open loss.
Fortuitously, Rublev went to the hospital for therapy the place he confronted a terrifying prospect: Testicular amputation.
“Now I really feel good, every thing went effectively,” Rublev informed the media in Stockholm. “I do not know easy methods to name it in a sensible approach however I can name it in a humorous approach.
“I nearly misplaced my ball. I used to be tremendous fortunate as a result of they are saying you have got solely 5 – 6 hours if the blood stops going there after which it is amputation. I used to be fortunate. I do not know why I stated, ‘let’s go to hospital simply to test why I really feel a bizarre feeling’.
“They checked right away and so they took me as an emergency to do the surgical procedure after which they have been capable of do the surgical procedure in three or 4 hours after the primary feeling I felt. In order that they have been capable of do every thing good and in the long run every thing is nice.”
World No. 7 Rublev now has the bounce again in his step, however shared it was practically an entire new ball sport.
The final reminiscence Rublev had earlier than anesthesia kicked in was signing a launch type allowing medical doctors to carry out a testicle amputation if essential.
“The very last thing earlier than they made me sleep, I signed the paper saying they have been allowed to amputate my ball,” Rublev recalled. “That was the very last thing earlier than the surgical procedure that I noticed.”
Thirty-nine year-old Stan Wawrinka bounced the top-seeded Rublev out of the Stockholm Open at present, 7-6, 7-6, to turn into the oldest semifinal in match historical past.
Nonetheless, Rublev is relieved to be again on court docket with physique and thoughts intact.
