On his hospital bed, a premature end to his career crossed his mind. But the hypothesis is swept away as he recovers. After almost two months of complete cessation – a first in his career – the Walloon Brabançon is back in training with… a few extra pounds, and above all a mind to rebuild.
On a physical level, a lot of things have changed: I lost muscle, I gained fat. And then finally, I regained muscle, and there we are working to lose this superfluous fat, but that’s an extra weight to push on the ground, and it’s not negligible. Mentally, unfortunately, that’s where the problem lies at the moment. This is where I lost the most. Physically, I am not far from 100%, but mentally, I estimate that I am only at 50 or 60% of my capacities.
And indeed, the return to the courts at the start of the year is a bit mixed for Joachim. First there were two doubles wins with the Frenchman Stéphane Houdet on smaller tournaments in Australia. It’s always good for morale. There was then a logical elimination by the Japanese Shingo Kunieda, world No. 1, in the first round of the Australian Open. Joachim being defending champion, this is obviously not good news in terms of points. Finally, this week at the Rotterdam tournament, Joachim Gérard easily won against another Belgian, Jef Van Dorpe -his doubles partner in Tokyo- (6-2, 6-1), before losing to the Spaniard Gustavo Fernandez, 3rd in the world (6-2, 6-4). In short, Joachim Gérard is on the right track, but is still far from his best level. Obviously with consequences in terms of ranking.
I find myself in 7th place after a month of returning to competition, and we know that the rest of the season will not be easy, because we will have to defend points, but that’s it, it’s part of this injury, of this accident, and it pushes me to work twice as hard. And twice as good, above all.
If Joaquim’s next few weeks will be occupied by other joyful imperatives – he will become the father of a little girl at the beginning of March – he should be back 100% for Roland Garros. His objectives remain the same as before this heart problem: to win Grand Slams and become world No. 1.
