The TV Interview - Part I

On Monday, Argentine sports channel TyC Sports aired a one-hour interview with David, conducted in Villa Allende (Cordoba), where David is doing his rehabilitation. He was interviewed by Gonzalo Bonadeo from TyC Sports, an acclaimed Argentine sports journalist specializing in tennis.
Tamar from the Argentine David fansite "David Nalbandian es un ídolo total" has not only transcribed the entire interview, she has also allowed me to translate her transcript for Vamos David. (Thank you so much!) The interview is very long, so I've decided to post it in several parts. In this first, shorter one, David talks about his operation and rehabilitation...

I felt reassured by all that was done in preparation for the the surgery and by the doctors.

I deal with it. I go and come back but I'm on crutches.

I asked to be asleep during surgery, I didn't feel anything. That's how it is with arthroscopies, you don't feel anything. I told them, make me go to sleep and then wake me up again when I'm back in my room. I don't want to know the rest.

Before this operation, I went to the operating room once, two years ago, because of a blockage in my back. But that had nothing to do with surgery. That was just a pinprick.

When the orderlies come to get you, you think - I'm done. I remember when on the day of the operation we were inside the lift, going down, I asked the orderly, 'there's still a chance that I'll walk out of here, right?' and he told me 'I've seen more people walk out of here than end up in the operating room'. (laughs)

When I woke up again, I wanted to watch the [FC] Barcelona match, they were playing the final of the Copa del Rey [Spanish football cup]. I told everyone to wake me at 9.30pm. I watched that match, still totally sleepy. Because I had surgery from about six to nine in the evening. So I watched pieces of that match. At 9.30pm I was back in my room. I only remember that night from six in the morning onwards, because I was very sleepy, very sedated. So I watched that match feeling very sleepy. I saw the goals... I listened to the goals being scored and it was terribly difficult to open my eyes. My girlfriend was with me during the nights I spent at the hospital. The next day I got up early for breakfast and already felt very much awake again. Angel [Ruiz-Cotorro] came and said to me, 'in the afternoon, we'll start with the bicycle' and they brought the bike to my room. Less than 24 hours after surgery we began with the rehabilitation. None of us expected that I would be able to do a little work so soon. At first, it was a strange feeling because my leg was a little stuck in the beginning. But it only took 30 seconds or a minute until I had accustomed myself to it and after another 20 minutes it was normal. In 20 days, I'm going to have another MRI scan to see if everything is okay. Because there's a one percent chance that the body rejects what has been done to it with the surgery.

Q: You've always liked to go swimming?
As a child I liked to swim. And I used the swimming pool for training purposes. I like it sometimes, when I don't have to spend four hours swimming because that's boring. I do swim a little but I exercise more in the water than I actually swim. Apart from that, if you see my style, swimming without moving a leg, it's very funny. I look like a hapless frog. (laughs) The first day I went into the water, before getting started with the crutches and everything, I felt the hip, it was still inflamed from surgery. Because I went into the water already on the third or fourth day [after surgery]. The first time I came out of it again, it was as if I had taken painkillers, incredible. It was fantastic. As you start walking in the water without crutches, start doing side steps, when you're doing stuff - silly little things, ultimately - you're removing the fear to walk, to get going. Always with the water at breast height so that there's not much pressure [on the hip]. I spend more time walking and doing side steps in the water than actually swimming.

This is only the third week since I've had surgery. It's nothing compared to a process that will take three, four or five months. A week ago I arrived home and I'm really relaxed. It takes between two and a half and three hours to do all the exercises and after that, I'm free. The work can be divided into two parts, or I can do all of it in the morning or in the afternoon, and I can get there by car. For now, everything is fine. Friends, home, family, everything is fine. The problem will be the second or third month when you're not travelling, and you can't train, you can't do anything. I don't think I'll miss taking planes and airports but I'll probably miss playing tournaments. Today, watching Roland Garros makes you say, 'what a pity'. But soon, I'll be watching Wimbledon and it'll make me want to play again. Right now, the truth is that I'm very far from being able to play. I don't want to be on court. And when they tell me that in two and a half months, I'll be on court again, I say, impossible, I can't even walk. If today you say to me 'let's go and play', I'll tell you 'no, I'm going to fall down, I cannot move, I don't want to'. But maybe when I'm feeling a little better and I can get rid of the crutches, then maybe I'll want to but I won't have the okay from my doctors.

More to come...