Pablo Carreño: “I thought about the withdrawal … but I prefer to be on track” | ATP Tour

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Carreño: “I thought about the withdrawal … but I prefer to be on track”

At 33 he has linked two consecutive challenger tour titles

February 17, 2025

The 2022 season had a bittersweet taste for Pablo Carreño Busta, a year in which he touched the glory but also had a painful end.

The Spanish conquered that course the biggest trophy of his career at the ATP Masters 1000 in Canada in Montreal and only a few weeks later presented himself in the fourth round of the US Open. In that November, No. 13 of the PIF ATP Rankings looked closely at the Top 10. He was a firm candidate to return to the elite four years later.

But in his last tournament of the year, playing at home at the Davis Cup finals, fate changed the idea. Carreño Busta felt discomfort in the right elbow at the beginning of the week and after a defeat in three sets against Croatian Marin Cilic, the inconvenience became an intense pain.

“I could play, but I felt pain,” Carreño Busta recalled last week at the ATP Challenger in Tenerife. “We tried some treatments before the start of the 2023 season and at some times it was fine, but in others worse. In the end, it was a long time with problems in the elbow. ”

Carreño played only five tournaments in 2023, before undergoing an operation in November, a year after the pain began. After this time he returned to the circuit, specifically in Roland Garros last season, the Asturian had fallen to No. 1.049 of the PIF ATP Rankings.

“I had protected ranking, but when you start after so long, it’s always difficult to gain rhythm and confidence again,” he said. “And also physically, be prepared to play many games in a row. It was hard at first. So I tried to work to the maximum I could to be 100% both physically and mentally. ”

The long section of the tracks not only affected the right and the reverse of the 33 -year -old player.

“It was a lot of time. So mentally and emotionally it was also difficult for me to continue fighting, keep doing the things I had to do, recover and be healthy again, ”Carreño confessed. “So it was probably harder mentally, but it is true that it was physically very, very hard too. It is very hard to return among the best in the world. ”

“I know I had to try to be positive all the time. But sometimes it is difficult or perhaps impossible to do so. Sometimes, it is true that I thought a lot about the withdrawal, but I prefer to be on track. ”

The Spanish, who has been playing regularly since last June, is motivated with his return to ATP Tour and adds seven crowns at this level. He got eight victories last season, being his most outstanding performance the semifinals in Winston-Salem.

Already this season, Carreño Busta won his first round duel at the Australia Open and more recently conquered two consecutive titles in the ATP Challenger Tour in Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands in Spain.

The Carreño trophy this week in Tenerife was the first since Canada conquered in 2022. Maybe, at that time it would have been hard news for Spanish in one of the best moments of his career.

But now the 13 -time champion of a Challenger tournament feels a tennis player again. And he has done it at the pace of victories, specifically nine consecutive.

“Everything was perfect. Physically I was 100% again, so it’s very satisfactory, ”he said. “After a long time with the elbow injury, it was great to win a title again. The last time was a 1000 Masters and this time a Challenger. It is very emotional because it was two and a half years ago. ”

^{Pablo Carreño Busta at the Challenger in Tenerife. Photo: Alessandro de Vita}

After two weeks of success, Carreño ascended until No. 111 of the world, his best mark at the PIF ATP Rankigns since August 2023 and a big difference compared to last year, where his name was accompanied by four digits.

“My goal at this time is to return to Top 100. I think I’m already prepared to do it,” Carreño noted. “I know if I’m still like this, it will come soon.”

The Spaniard Hico a change of pre -season coach. After a long collaboration with Samuel López, who joined the Carlos Alcaraz team, he is now under the supervision of Víctor López Morón at Tec Carles Ferrer Salat in Barcelona.

“It was an incredible stage with Samuel and the Ferrero Academy. I thank you for a lot to have been there for so long, for so many years, ”he said. “And now thinking about the future, I think I’m in one of the best places to be.”

Happy Pablo 😁@pabrocreno91 with Challenger trophy No. 1⃣3⃣ 👏#Atpchallenger | @meftennisevents pic.twitter.com/ATqIWL7Alq

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) February 16, 2025