By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Friday, October 18, 2024Photo credit score: Clive Brunskill/Getty
New balls please was as soon as an ATP slogan.
Lately, it was a really scary chance 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 virtually misplaced my ball.”
The reigning Madrid champion felt ache in his testicle following that five-set US Open loss.
Thankfully, Rublev went to the hospital for therapy the place he confronted a terrifying prospect: Testicular amputation.
“Now I really feel good, every little thing went properly,” Rublev instructed the media in Stockholm. “I do not know methods to name it in a sensible approach however I can name it in a humorous approach.
“I virtually misplaced my ball. I used to be tremendous fortunate as a result of they are saying you’ve gotten solely 5 or 6 hours if the blood stops going there after which it is amputation. I used to be fortunate. I do not know why I mentioned, ‘let’s go to hospital simply to verify 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 had been capable of do the surgical procedure in three or 4 hours after the primary feeling I felt. In order that they had been capable of do every little thing good and ultimately every little thing is nice.”
World No. 7 Rublev now has the bounce again in his step, however shared it was almost a complete new ball recreation.
The final reminiscence Rublev had earlier than anesthesia kicked in was signing a launch kind allowing medical doctors to carry out a testicle amputation if crucial.
“The very last thing earlier than they made me sleep, I signed the paper saying they had 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 immediately, 7-6, 7-6, to turn into the oldest semifinal in event historical past.
Nonetheless, Rublev is relieved to be again on court docket with physique and thoughts intact.
