In Place of an Update...

No news from Unquillo.
All is still absolutely quiet on the David front.
As soon as there's any news, or David agrees to do an interview, I'll post it here.


Edit (18/05)
Usually, two weeks after surgery is, at the latest, when David starts giving interviews again.
And that's where we are now - but nothing so far.


Edit (14/05)
At a press conference yesterday, Martin Jaite said that David returning in time for the Davis Cup semifinal would be "almost a miracle" (source).
The only thing that seems fairly certain at this point is the two exhibition matches with Rafa Nadal, still scheduled for November (source).

David's Surgery - The Official Version

Update (10/05)
No news, no interviews so far.

Update (08/05)
David has arrived back home, rehabilitation process about to begin (source).


News about David usually come from different sources. From the various news sites or journalists and their Twitters, sometimes even from David's camp or from David, himself. And then there's a special kind of source, one that I was hoping I wouldn't have to use anymore - doctors and clinics and their medical communiques. But as it turns out, the Clínica Mapfre de Medicina del Tenis, Dr. Ruiz-Cotorro's new headquarters in Barcelona, has its own website and more about David's injuries and surgeries.

Their article contains what could be called a summary of recent proceedings. Including the official diagnosis and reason why David underwent surgery. And apparently, he was in a worse state than his camp initially told the media. Here's the clinic's version, as published yesterday:

The player [i.e. David] travelled to Barcelona for a review and to have additional necessary tests conducted by Dr. Ruiz-Cotorro, his personal doctor, at the Clínica Mapfre de Medicina del Tenis.

In order to speed up the tennis player's recovery, for the sake of the next Davis Cup tie, it was decided to carry out the double intervention.

The player had a ruptured rotator cuff plus a Type 2 SLAP lesion on his right shoulder. On his right hip, he had a labral tear. According to Dr. Cotorro, "these types of injuries are very common among professional tennis players."

The double surgery, performed by the doctors Philippon, Vilaró and Ruiz-Cotorro took six hours and was conducted at the Clínica Teknon in Barcelona.

The player is making progress as planned and he was released today. The estimated recovery time is between four and six months during which he'll have to undergo a very intense process of rehabilitation under the supervision of his personal physiotherapist Diego Rodriguez in Argentina, as well as several check-ups at the Clínica Mapfre de Medicina del Tenis in Spain.

The doctors Philippon, Ruiz-Cotorro and Vilaró expressed their satisfaction after surgery, which confirmed the diagnosis ahead of the intervention.

The part about a rupture in his rotator cuff is complete news to me. As is the existence of a fully formed labral tear in his right hip. This means it was the exact same injury again that he also had on his left hip. Which doesn't make it any easier to be optimistic about David's chances of returning in time for the Davis Cup semifinal. After all, the estimated four to five months recovery time after his first hip surgery turned into eight months (and then due to an abdominal tear eventually ended up being nine months).

What this article and basically every other piece of news I've seen have in common is the Davis Cup semifinal as the big goal. His injuries, as described here, must've made it impossible for him to go on playing and postpone surgery until after the tie. But just like in all the other articles and tweets I've seen there's no mention of any plans beyond the semifinal (except for the exhibitions in November).
We'll have to wait and see what he has to say if he talks to the media when he returns to Argentina.

More on David's Double Surgery

(Telam)

Update (06/05)
David is still in Barcelona but he was able to leave the hospital already yesterday (source).
He'll fly back home to Argentina in the next couple of days and then begin rehabilitation.


Four years ago, when David had his first hip surgery in Barcelona, he caught himself wondering whether he'd be able to leave the hospital on his own two feet. Yesterday, undergoing a combined shoulder and hip surgery (conducted by the same team as in 2009), David was apparently more relaxed. According to his camp, even after six hours in the operating room he was still in the mood for making jokes (source).

By now, David is unfortunately a seasoned pro when it comes to having surgery. Hip surgery 2009, hernia/adductor double surgery in 2011 and keeping up his two-year rhythm, the shoulder/hip double surgery now in 2013. On all three occasions little was known about the reasons for those surgical interventions before they took place. Here's a summary of what I've been able to find out in this case.

Shoulder
On closer inspection (by Dr. Ruiz-Cotorro), the numbness in David's shoulder turned out to come from a so-called SLAP tear or lesion. Which seems to be a fairly common shoulder injury, though one that's not easy to diagnose as it's apparently difficult to detect by normal tests and the symptoms can vary.
There are four different types of SLAP tears. In David's case it was Type 2, which requires surgery.

Hip
When David had surgery on his left hip in 2009 it was because of a labral tear. An injury he spent over a year playing with, also because apparently it wasn't diagnosed correctly for some time.
With his right hip it seems that he didn't want to be taking the same kind of risk. The problems David was having with his right hip apparently pointed in the directon of another degenerative labral tear, therefore the surgery as a "preventive measure".

But is it realistic or even possible to play competitive tennis four months after these surgeries?
Javier Maquirriain, doctor of the Argentine Davis Cup team:

Generally speaking, recovery from a SLAP lesion takes between three and six months, depending on the patient. The same goes for the hip. It's an injury that happens a bit more often these days but it's also diagnosed earlier so the prognoses are more favourable.
(Source.)

In other words - it's possible but there are no guarantees. Still, David and his doctors must be convinced that it's very much possible, otherwise he wouldn't have risked being able to play the Davis Cup semifinal. - Which will from now on be the main objective. And according to Bernardo Ballero, everything's planned.

Nalbandian is in good spirits. His plan is to work with his team on getting back in time for the Davis Cup semifinal. After the postoperative [treatment at the hospital] he'll begin with a kinesiological rehabilitation before he picks up a racquet again.
(Source.)

David's kinesiologist and old friend Diego Rodriguez is in Barcelona with him. Victoria couldn't accompany him this time, for obvious reasons. But as soon as David gets discharged from the hospital (probably by the middle of next week) he'll be on his way back home to Unquillo. To begin rehabilitation with Diego Rodriguez and also to soon become a father, with the birth of his daughter expected for early June.

How much we'll get to hear from David in the coming weeks and months, well, that's difficult to say at this point. I guess there'll be a round of interviews when he arrives back home in Argentina. But apart from that it'll depend on how much he wants to talk to the media (probably not much). In any case I'll do my best to keep up with David as he tries to get on the road to Prague:

I'm confident that I've taken the right way in order to be able to play tennis again in the shortest possible time.
(Source.)

 Here's hoping he's right and that it's all going to work out.

Update: Double Surgery Today

(Olé)

UpdateIII
After over six hours the double surgery is over and the good news is it was successful (source).


UpdateII
As I post this (at 10pm Barcelona time) David is still in the operating room.
Apparently, it'll take about another hour - altogether six hours (source).


Update
The worst case scenario has been confirmed.
David will undergo the double surgery today, on his right shoulder and on his right hip.
The hip surgery will be conducted by Dr. Mark Philippon, who also operated David's left hip.
The estimated recovery time is four months and David still hopes to play the semifinal:

Together with my team, I'm going to work very hard on getting back in time to play the Davis Cup doubles against the Czech Republic.
(Source.)

So right now, all I can do is say - good luck David. Y espero que te mejores pronto.


It's never a good sign if David gets on a plane to pay a visit to Dr. Angel Ruiz-Cotorro in Barcelona.
And this time, it could turn out to be a particularly bad omen.

Citing sources close to David, La Nacion reports that David's trip to Ruiz-Cotorro could end with having another double surgery. On his shoulder, where he has reportedly suffered a so-called SLAP tear. And also, confirming the rumours to that effect, on his right hip.

If this worst case scenario comes to pass then taking part in the Davis Cup semifinal (four months from now) would become very difficult, if not to say highly unlikely.
And what it would mean for David's career - well, only David knows.

Right now, the decision for or against surgery at this point has apparently not been made yet.
I'll do my best to keep you posted.

Off the Beaten Track

(FM Universo)

UpdateII (01/05)
The latest news: David will travel to Barcelona today to see Dr. Angel Ruiz-Cotorro (source).
The official reason is the "numbness" in his shoulder, though it appeared to be fine, last weekend.
(Edit: Some photos from Sunday's polo final and the trophy ceremony now on the Photo Page.)

With the European clay-court swing in full sway now, Rafa Nadal won his eighth title at Barcelona yesterday, while Lukas Rosol, Czech Davis Cup player, won his first ever ATP title in Bucharest.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, David as well won a title yesterday. After extra time and an improvised penalty shoot-out that saw David scoring the decisive goal his team won the "Torneo 109 Aniversario de Washington Polo Club" (source). It was the perfect ending for a long polo weekend during which David played four games in as many days.

All of that less than a week after the release of an official statement that spoke of a shoulder problem David was supposed to have had since the Davis Cup quarterfinal, of tests and examinations, and of a delayed and still uncertain date for his return to the Tour. Back then, I wrote in the comments that this statement might be something like an "alibi", an official reason for not playing at the moment so that he doesn't get bothered because of it. And given what has happened since then, David playing polo and a total lack of further news about the shoulder - I think that seems to be the case.

So David's shoulder is obviously okay. But when can we expect to see him at a tennis tournament again? Well, your guess is as good as mine. As long as David doesn't talk about how he intends to spend the coming months, whether in an interview or in form of another press release, there's no way of knowing.

Four years ago (after David's hip surgery) I wrote a post, saying that I didn't really know how much was going to happen in the next few months but that I'd try to keep the blog going, though perhaps at a slower pace. And I can basically just say the same again right now. I don't know how much tennis David is going to play in the months to come. And I don't know when (or if) he's going to let us in on his plans.
But I'll keep this blog going, whether or not there will be much to report, just maybe at a slower pace.


Update (30/04)
In the meantime the ITF has officially announced the venues for the Davis Cup semifinal in September. Serbia will host Canada at the Belgrade Arena. And as expected, the Czech team has chosen to play on a fast indoor hardcourt at the O2 Arena in Prague:

(Martin Sidorjak/DavisCup.com)

The Vanishing Act (Continued)

(Hans Ruhle/archive)

Update (26/04)
Still no news, officially.
But I've managed to find out how David is spending this weekend.
Looks like he's playing a polo tournament in Córdoba and his team won its first game yesterday (source).
So I guess it's safe to say that his shoulder isn't really that bad.


It was the first thing we heard from David after the Davis Cup quarterfinal and his vacation afterwards,
the official statement published via the Argentine media on Saturday.
And so far, it's also the last thing we heard - not a word since then from David or his camp.
Neither about the "numbness" in his shoulder since playing the last Davis Cup doubles.
Nor about his plans for the coming months.

The Vanishing Act (Temporarily Repealed)

(Daniel Cáceres/Clarin)

UpdateII (23/04)
No further news from David and his shoulder so far.


Update
Finally some news - but not exactly good news:

David Nalbandian announces that there's a "numbness" in his right shoulder and that he doesn't know when he'll play again.
(Source.)

It's the first time I see/hear anything about a shoulder problem. Apparently, it's tests and examinations for David at the moment to find out more before he can make any plans. In his words:

As soon as we have determined the cause of this problem I'll decide together with my team which tournaments I'm going to play.
(Source.)

So David hasn't vanished completely, after all. But the uncertainty remains...


One of David's special talents, apart from playing tennis, is to disappear. To just go and seemingly
vanish into thin air, without leaving any hint or clue as to when he'll be back and what his plans are.
It's something he does on a fairly regular basis, something you get used to as a fan. And usually there are other ways of finding out what he'll do, where he'll play in the next months. But not this time, now that he can no longer enter main draws directly. This time, it's a true vanishing act.

Barcelona, previously mentioned as a possible candidate for his return, will take place without David.
That at least is absolutely certain (the draw came out today). And he's also not among those wildcard recipients that the Madrid organisers announced earlier this week. They still have one wildcard left. But
as there's still no sign of David, nothing to suggest that he'll return anytime soon, playing any of the European clay-court tournaments by now seems increasingly unlikely.

- Speculation. Right now, the only thing we know is that David will play the Davis Cup semifinal against the Czech Republic in what's probably going to be Prague, almost exactly five months from now (September 13-15). Everything else is speculation. How he'll spend these months, whether he'll play tournaments, when, where - until David decides to let us in on his plans we can only guess. And wait.
Though at least he agrees that even if the Davis Cup is all that matters, getting some match practice might not be a bad idea (from an interview he gave earlier this year):

It's very difficult to only play Davis Cup without being on the Tour. Without rhythm, without match practice, without anything. It's complicated.
(Source.)

I don't know what he's going to do.Whether he might want to pay a last visit to Wimbledon (and Boodles). Whether he might play some of the US hardcourt events as preparation for the Davis Cup semifinal. Or whether he might still decide not to play any further tournaments. - Anything seems possible at this point.