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Fernando Gonzalez has announced he will not be playing Wimbledon this year. Gonzalez has appeared in the last 35 Grand Slams but has struggled recently with tendinitis in both knees. Since the earthquake in his home country of Chile earlier this year Gonzo has struggled to find any real form. When he played the Davis Cup tie against Israel he struggled with his knees and was seen resting court side with two ice packs firmly attached to his knees.
Fernando has struggled with tendinitis since early 2002, with the injury flaring up intermittently as tendinitis tends to do if the irritant is not taken away.
As a result of not defending all of his points after an early drop out in Roland Garros, combined with the loss 90 point from a third round showing at Wimbledon, Gonzalez will begin a slow slide down the rankings as he rehabilitated himself.
What made the tendinitis so bad?I had calcification in both knees. When one hurts you try to compensate with the other. With good work, rest and rehab I will be better.
Some time ago you said that you learned to live with the pain.I’ve had it since the 2002 Australian Open…
So you have dealt with it almost for your whole career?It’s been coming and going. I’ve had good and bad moments. I had a very bad moment in 2003, after that I could recover well but last year at Wimbledon it started all over again and hasn’t stopped since then.
After the defeat in the Roland Garros second round, you will lose important points at the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings. How will you deal with that?I prefer to have a bad ranking and be healthy, rather than get to a ranking that would be tough to maintain without being in optimum physical condition.
With your absence at Wimbledon you will bring to an end a run of 35 successive Grand Slam appearances.Some time ago I realised I have played all the Grand Slams since 2002. I thought about how good it was and I was lucky not to be injured. No I’ll have to miss one. I hope it’s the only one so I can play a lot more.
Next month you will turn 30, you suffer a chronic injury, but you told your Twitter fans that you’re not thinking about retirement.Twitter has been very helpful; it’s my main source for keeping in touch with people. Sometimes the media needs to sell more so they publish information about a possible retirement. But that wasn’t true. Retirement is not in my head. I still have a lot of goals on my career and I have fun playing. I can’t imagine my life without competitive tennis. Retirement is not an issue. They published that without asking me so that bothered me. Thank God there’s Twitter so I could tell people that wasn’t true.
Twitter and your official web site have become a habit now that you have more free time.Social networking is very important. People want and need communication. Everyone is connected by their mobile phones, chat and social networks. Tennis fans feel closer because of that. When you’re constantly talking about what’s going on, what you think, people like that. It’s a spontaneous communication.
How long will your recovery take?The first thing is to feel better, recover from the injuries. The rest will come by itself. I can’t make the mistake of playing 25 tournaments. I’ve always played few tournaments. The important thing is to take it easy and take my rest time seriously; that has always been important in my career.
What’s the positive side of being without competition?The positive thing is that I will have a lot of energy when I come back. I will appreciate more what I have achieved in this sport. When you’re out you feel the passion for the game more. I’ve also done some things that I miss. That gives you energy to keep on playing.
