Darian King’s back may be worse than originally thought.
Barbados’ best could be facing a month-long layoff from the circuit after the top-ranked tennis pro struggled to move laterally during his return to the court this week.
King made the revelation yesterday following his latest practice session – just his third court appearance since re-aggravating a niggling back injury earlier this month.
“It really doesn’t feel good running down balls and stretching for balls, and when I go to serve I can really feel it,” said King of the injury.
“The on-court movement all together just feels weird right now and it’s tough trying to get back fit and just frustrating because I’m not playing the way I was before at practice.
“So I think I could be somewhere near 80 to 85 per cent fit if I spend every day at the therapist but right now I may be at 60 per cent or so,” he added.
The situation has become a lot worse than first feared when King appeared to initially injure his back at home at the start of the year, before he tweaked it again just some weeks later.
But the world No. 453 suffered a real scare earlier this month when he crashed through a fence and onto a concrete pillar while chasing down a ball during a Bundesliga club match in Germany.
It was then revealed King suffered a “spinal contusion” after he had to be rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment and a subsequent MRI.
“It’s still swollen and basically on the right side it’s pretty bad,” King said of his back.
“Right now I’m going to the therapist every day getting acupuncture, ice and heat so hopefully I can eventually recover fully.”
Despite the setback, King is still slated to leave today to contest a tournament in the Netherlands to gauge his fitness, with the hope of moving straight on to the Challenger circuit if his back responds accordingly.
“We will give it a go and then based on the results in Netherlands we will decide whether to come back, sit out and continue treatment or continue on,” disclosed King.
“But mentally I’m down because as a tennis player you’re always on the computer so you’re seeing your ranking drop then practice isn’t going as well as it usually does.
“I’m not playing with the same confidence and just thinking about other things but I won’t be too hard on myself,” he added.
More importantly to King though, is getting in shape for Barbados’ biggest Davis Cup tie ever, which will see the country play host to Mexico in September for the right to advance to Group I.
“This is too big because we all went through the stages and now to get here and not be able to go out there and battle for my country would be just too depressing,” said King.
“For all the individual success you may get there’s nothing that compares to playing for your country and leaving everything on the court.”
