David: Differences with Delpo settled, Comeback at the Australian Open

(Photo by Telam; taken from Óle, click to view full size)

Yesterday, the Argentine national news agency Telam published this new article, which was immediately quoted on a variety of Argentine newspaper sites (for example La Nacion, Óle, Clarin and infobae.com). The original article on the Telam website includes a video clip. It's not possible to embed it here but I can only recommend following this link and having a look at the video. In which David - somewhat miraculously - looks much lighter again than he did in recent clips.
Here's the Telam article:

"In ten days I'll play again," Nalbandian told Telam in an exclusive interview that was conducted at the tennis academy of the former player Ines Gorrochategui in the town of Villa Allende, Cordoba.
The tennis player was born in Unquillo 27 years ago and won ten titles on the professional tour, including the 2005 Masters Cup, where he defeated the current world No.1, Roger Federer from Switzerland. Nalbandian said that the recovery is going "very well and even better we thought".
"My recovery is developing according to plan. Even better than that so far I think, and that's great news. I've already spent three months of rehabilitation, doing some physical training and now these things are starting to pay off."
Nalbandian had hip surgery on May 13th because of a labrum tear, a cartilage which is there to reduce the impact of movement of the femur. If damaged, it leads to a wearing-out of the joint and numbness, followed by intense pain in that area.
"It was a very difficult decision to have surgery because I was trying to go on for as long as possible. But I suffered when I played and I couldn't go on like that, so I was left with no other choice," said the tennis player, who reached the No.3 position in the world rankings in March 2006.
Two former No.1 players found themselves at a similar crossroads a few years ago, Gustavo Kuerten and Lleyton Hewitt. Both had surgery but with different results: the Brazilian failed to recover from the surgical intervention and ended up retiring from the circuit, while the Australian returned to competition without any major problems.
Nalbandian talks to Telam and gesticulates, he seems relaxed and self-confident, with the confidence of a tennis player, who, in little over a week, will get his hands on a racquet again.
"At first, I'll have to take small steps. It'll be 20 minutes per day on court and doing very moderate exercises. I'll have to start slowly, only doing tennis movements [hitting only, no running]."
In terms of what will happen in the coming months, Nalbandian reveals that he doesn't want to rush his return to the circuit.
"I don't aspire to compete again in the short term. I don't want to rush anything. The plan is to do things according to schedule and when the time comes, I'll start [playing]. The idea is to start at the Australia Open in January next year."
To recover from surgery, Nalbandian chose the quietness of his hometown in Cordoba. "The truth that right now, my life is very relaxed. I'm back in my province, I am with my friends, in my hometown and no travelling. Hardly a weekend goes by without taking a short break and going fishing."
Asked about his absence from the circuit, his eyes start to shine, a naughty smile appears on his face and he assures us that he "misses the important moments, the decisive matches or final stages of a tournament, those you like to play. "
But he quickly clarifies that "right now, I'm still far from being on court, so I don't really miss it that much. When I'm well enough to play again, I'll be much more eager to return."
Although it's still about five months until he'll officially walk onto a tennis court again, Nalbandian has clear objectives for the comeback. "The goal is to get back inside the Top Ten, maintain that position and try to win a Grand Slam tournament. And obviously, the Davis Cup is a dream, too."
The same Davis Cup that gave Nalbandian a bitter pill to swallow last year when Argentina lost the final against Spain, playing at home, in a tie that revealed some differences with Juan Martin Del Potro, now ranked No.6 in the world.
However, Nalbandian told Telam that "those differences have been settled. Juan Martin and I got together and talked about the things we had to talk about. And now it's all fine. "
To give point to his words, he adds, "with Juan Martin, we have a great team and hopefully we can both find a way to play at our best level to win the Davis Cup for Argentina for the first time in history."

Update
Here's another photo (thanks, tennisace). Looks like this one was taken at the Vilas Racquet Club, where he did those interviews for Clarin and La Nacion.


(Nestor Garcia/Clarin Archive)