“My son owed me one at Wimbledon, he has paid his debt and we are at peace”

When you have been a Grand Slam semi-finalist, world number ten, champion of Davis Cup or bronze medalist in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Gamesthere is no explanation for a tennis player of this level to count his seven previous appearances at Wimbledon as losses.

An anomaly solved in his eighth appearance, at the age of 34, in a second extra phase of his career after a significant right elbow injury that jeopardized his stay in tennis. “I didn’t want an injury to take me away,” he says. It was not just a declaration of intentions, it was applied to it, to the recovery after undergoing surgery and some other problems in the process. Also fighting in minor tournaments and previous phases as in their beginnings.

This man from Gijón is positively stubborn. A warrior. “It has been very special. Leaving without any victory at Wimbledon was strange and luckily I already have it,” he proclaimed as happy as he was relieved after eliminating the Canadian Denis Shapovalovwho retired after finishing the second set with pain in his left shoulder due to a fall.

Relativize things Pablo Carreno from his experience. “The first years I came I just entered the top 100 and I didn’t prepare much for Wimbledon. I have had very tough rivals like David Ferrer, Gael Monfils, Milos Raonic and then there have been years that I haven’t been able to play. In 2023 and 2024 due to injury and in 2025 due to the birth of my son,” he said about the reason for the current balance of 1-7.

If something pushes him to continue improving his performance and his ranking (current number 71) it is being an active tennis player in the eyes of his son, whose birth caused his withdrawal from Wimbledon 2025. “My son owed me one from last year. We are now at peace and he has already paid his debt,” the Asturian jokes. “Being able to experience it with my family, my sister, my wife and my son has been exciting,” he adds.

This Wednesday he meets again with the young man from Madrid Rafa Jódar, with whom he lost in five sets at Roland Garros, after having dominated the first two. “Rafa has won in three sets (against Felix Gill). It will be different from the Roland Garros match in terms of play and tactics. You have to see carefully how to hurt him. There are not many matches on grass to study his game. I will watch his match today and draw conclusions,” he warns.

Between Paris and Wimbledon he did not play any preparation matches on grass. In the French capital, some shoulder pain intensified, and the physical effort paid off. And I wanted to recover well.

After grass, he will return to clay, in Umag and Estoril, before facing the North American hard court tour. It continues to set challenges, from the logic of its current moment. “Before the injury, if they told me that I had this ranking (71), I would not be satisfied. Being around the top 100 a few months ago was very hard because I had to be thinking about the cuts of the big tournaments and see if I had to play the qualifiers. Now that I can enter the draws it makes things easier for me. If my injuries are respected, I continue playing well and completed the year, I can improve the ranking. I hope to reach the top 50, although it is not close to the top 10 in which I was before the injury,” analyzed Pablo Carreno.