Google News James Duckworth reveals what doctor told him after seeing severity of his hip injury
by DZEVAD MESIC
Australian tennis player James Duckworth revealed the doctor who conducted the surgery on his hip couldn't believe that he managed to play during the Australian summer. Even though Duckworth was hampered by a hip injury, he competed at the ATP Cup and Australian Open.
After losing two matches at the ATP Cup, Duckworth suffered a tight five-set loss to Adrian Mannarino in the Australian Open first round. Shortly after the Australian Open loss, Duckworth underwent a hip surgery. In an interview with tennis.com.au, Duckworth explained that the doctor "had see the injury only once before in the thoursands of hip surgeries he had conducted." “He couldn’t believe I’d played the Aussie summer,” Duckworth told tennis.com.au.
Duckworth was coming off a career-best year
Duckworth enjoyed his best year on the ATP Tour in 2021 as he reached his maiden ATP final in Nur-Sultan and also achieved a career-high ranking of No. 46. Then, Duckworth literally woke up one day and started feeling pain in his hip.
“It was a pretty tricky period for me. Obviously I finished the year playing really well and I played my last match in Paris and I felt 100 per cent,” Duckworth said. “But I finished the match, and I woke up the next day and I couldn’t bend.
I just thought ‘you know, I’m a bit stiff and sore from a long year’ – obviously being away from home for just over six months straight – but the pain never went away”. This week in Lyon, Duckworth made his comeback.
In the first round, Duckworth suffered a three-set loss versus Francisco Cerundolo. After undergoing the ninth surgery of his career, Duckworth admits he appreciates more the good times. “But then on the flip side, once I’ve gotten through a number of these operations – I guess you appreciate the good times more. And once I sort of get through them, I feel like it was definitely all worth it," Duckworth added.