“Would Have Been Ready for Clay Season” – Kevin Anderson Disappointed With Coronavirus Outbreak

Kevin Anderson has been quite the unlucky man in tennis over the last year or so. The South African suffered a progression of injuries that put him on the back foot, disrupting his form and momentum. Close to full fitness again, Kevin will have to wait a little while longer given the ongoing Tour suspension.

A late bloomer, Anderson reached the peak of his powers near the end of the 2017 season, when he reached the final of the US Open. He then made the final of Wimbledon the following year, going down to Novak Djokovic. Unlike most big-servers, Kevin Anderson has a good all-round game, but the service remains his biggest weapon.

Kevin Anderson rues delayed return

Anderson had a very unfortunate season in 2019. Initially, he suffered an elbow injury which kept him out of the clay season, followed by a knee injury. The knee injury forced him to miss the US Open.

Kevin underwent surgery on his right knee in September to rectify the problem. He was progressing well until he tore a meniscus in his knee, forcing him to undergo another procedure in February.

As you can imagine, such a series of injuries coming one after the other can be quite frustrating for the players. Having been ranked as high as World No. 5 in 2019, Kevin slipped down the rankings sharply over the year and now sits on the No. 123 spot.

He recently spoke to the ATP website and expressed his thoughts.

“I feel quite confident where I am right now and I can maintain as much as I can while not being able to train properly and hopefully things settle down and it’s more safe to go outside, I’ll be able to resume and get back with things.”

Just as he was recovering, though, the ATP Tour was suspended due to the ongoing battle against coronavirus.

As a tennis player coming back from injury, all you want to do is start competing again. Only through tough and intense battles on the courts do you finally get back to full match fitness.

Unfortunately, Anderson will have to be patient with his return.

“My recovery’s gone great. I think it’s been really successful so far. I probably would have been ready for Monte Carlo and the clay court season. Obviously that’s not going to happen anymore, so we just had to re-adjust and now I’ll be at home and I feel like the toughest part of getting over the surgery and recovery has been done.”

As of now, the tennis season is suspended until June 7, following which the officials will make a decision. Until then Kevin will have to wait it out and hope for a resumption fairly soon.