Robby Ginepri will face Tommy Haas in the first round of the Atlanta Tennis Championships on Monday. It's been a long wait for Ginepri.
This will be his first ATP Tour-level event since breaking his elbow in a biking accident at Kennesaw Mountain in September. The reason? As Ginepri was barreling more than 30 mph down a hill a squirrel darted ahead of his mountain bike, causing him to crash. He has spent months rehabbing the injury – the first serious one in a career that included a five-set semifinal appearance in the U.S. Open in 2005. During his months of rehab he heard the "We have a deal" line from the "Seinfeld" episode regarding pigeons and squirrels a few times. A character in the show swerves to avoid a pigeon and hits a squirrel. They weren't funny at the time.
"Now I can look back and laugh," Ginepri, a Marietta resident, said. He was given a wildcard into the ATC's main draw.
There really was nothing to laugh at during his rehab. Because his feet were clipped into the bike's pedals, his elbow took the brunt of the impact as he slammed into the ground followed by four barrel rolls. His roommate, who was with him, and another cyclist coming up the hill, helped untangle him from the bike. As soon as he stood up he realized how badly he was injured.
During the first three months he wasn't sure his elbow would ever heal. He dealt with injuries to his neck, knee and wrist before, as well as a burst appendix. But those injuries were nothing like facing the prospect of as much as 10 months without competitive tennis.
He rehabbed three hours a day, five days a week. It's hard to be patient when success is measured in the few degrees gained in extending an arm that's used to slamming backhands.
"It was very overwhelming at times," he said. "I wondered if I would get back to the high level of tennis I was supposed to."
He leaned on his doctor as well as his girlfriend, Josephine Stafford, who is now his fiancée. As a former standout soccer player in Atlanta, Stafford could understand Ginepri's concern. Though she didn't have any experience with major injuries, she advised him to focus on the little bits of progress he was making. To think about the big goal would be insurmountable.
"It's nice to see him come out on the other end," she said.
It wasn't an instantaneous change in attitude. He rarely watched tennis on TV.
"It was tough," he said.
However, he kept grinding and began to see results.
Almost to the day when his doctor forecast he would return Ginepri was able to hit the courts again with a different perspective. He took advantage of being home full-time for the first time since he was 14 years old. It took a while, but he got used to not feeling the grind of life on the road and the never-ending cycle of matches. Stafford said today she sees someone who appreciates tennis and other things in life more. He "has a lot better head on his shoulders" than he did at the beginning of his career.
"It's definitely a learning curve in my life," Ginepri said. "I feel stronger coming out of it, feel more mature. Hopefully, I can use it to my advantage."
Though adding a fourth victory on the Tour would be nice, just like during his rehab Ginepri doesn't want to set too big of a goal. From the Grand Slam events he did watch, Ginepri could tell tennis has changed, even if he has been only away a few months. Serves are faster, points are longer and the players are better conditioned.
He's confident he will be a better player than he was before. It will take time, time in which he won't be mountain biking. He rides indoors now, though he says he will get back out there. He has invested too much in rehab to have another fluke accident occur. His arm feels better every day. He recently reached the quarterfinals of a lower-level event in Chicago and was knocked out in the first round of an event in California last week. He is taking full cuts and not thinking about the elbow.
"When you are out that long you always hope to get back to where you were," he said. "I think I'm on the right track."
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