Up and down year?

John: Well, 2023, let's talk about that as a whole, to begin with Dave, it's been a bit of an up-and-down year. Is that fair for you and Liam?
David: I think it's really been mostly an up year; I think the down part is the fact that he got injured. So in the final of Biel the wrist, which had been hurting him all week, in the final really broke down. And he took three weeks to try and, you know, get it ready for Banjo, Luka, in Bosnia. We went there and pretty much held it held up for two matches. And then, in the third match, it started to hurt again. Plus, he started to feel his abs a little bit there. So we took a longer time out a month and came back this week to Tunisia. And, yeah, I mean, the conditions were very difficult as it was very windy, with a lot of rain. And, yeah, it really was, not one of his best matches for sure.
John: So, how is the wrist right now
David: Basically, he has the same problem as Emma Raducanu. The surgeon has said with a situation like this, it's all about whether you can manage it and the level of pain that you can manage pain or discomfort. And if you can keep it at a level where you can play with it, you're not going to do any further damage. You just can either play on it or you can't. And right now, Liam feels that he you know, he's doing a lot of different wrist exercises and managing it. And the discomfort level is easily manageable for him. It's not affecting his play. It's not perfect, but it's not stopping him from playing full-out. Obviously, whilst Tunisia was not a good match and has been out for weeks, the good thing is the body came through intact.
John: Does the timing of this have an impact on decisions regarding the injury, for example, we've got the French Open Qualifiers at the beginning of next week. And we've also got Wimbledon not that far away. You know, home territory, also familiar territory in terms of success last year of beating Schwartzman among others, does that have an impact in terms of the physical situation with Liam right now?
David: I mean, certainly, it's not a time of year that he wants to miss. And I think the other thing that's even more prevalent, is the fact that he's not defending a lot of points, and he wasn't on the clay and unfortunately, basically he’s going to have played three tournaments on clay, that's it, which is a shame, because after Biel he was in a very, very good position to move his ranking forward towards, you know, top 100. And, you know, through the whole summer, he really has an opportunity. So, in terms of timing of when this has happened, it's never a good time to have an injury. But for the window of opportunity that he has had for the clay, but now for the rest of the clay, the French and grass and the hard courts in America, is quite a big opportunity. So, if he can manage it throughout the summer, that would be advantageous. He might be able to manage it for the rest of his career. If it does break down again, then then we're gonna have to look at wrist surgery.

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John: Well, 2023, let's talk about that as a whole, to begin with Dave, it's been a bit of an up-and-down year. Is that fair for you and Liam?

David: I think it's really been mostly an up year; I think the down part is the fact that he got injured. So in the final of Biel the wrist, which had been hurting him all week, in the final really broke down. And he took three weeks to try and, you know, get it ready for Banjo, Luka, in Bosnia. We went there and pretty much held it held up for two matches. And then, in the third match, it started to hurt again. Plus, he started to feel his abs a little bit there. So we took a longer time out a month and came back this week to Tunisia. And, yeah, I mean, the conditions were very difficult as it was very windy, with a lot of rain. And, yeah, it really was, not one of his best matches for sure.

John: So, how is the wrist right now

David: Basically, he has the same problem as Emma Raducanu. The surgeon has said with a situation like this, it's all about whether you can manage it and the level of pain that you can manage pain or discomfort. And if you can keep it at a level where you can play with it, you're not going to do any further damage. You just can either play on it or you can't. And right now, Liam feels that he you know, he's doing a lot of different wrist exercises and managing it. And the discomfort level is easily manageable for him. It's not affecting his play. It's not perfect, but it's not stopping him from playing full-out. Obviously, whilst Tunisia was not a good match and has been out for weeks, the good thing is the body came through intact.

John: Does the timing of this have an impact on decisions regarding the injury, for example, we've got the French Open Qualifiers at the beginning of next week. And we've also got Wimbledon not that far away. You know, home territory, also familiar territory in terms of success last year of beating Schwartzman among others, does that have an impact in terms of the physical situation with Liam right now?

David: I mean, certainly, it's not a time of year that he wants to miss. And I think the other thing that's even more prevalent, is the fact that he's not defending a lot of points, and he wasn't on the clay and unfortunately, basically he’s going to have played three tournaments on clay, that's it, which is a shame, because after Biel he was in a very, very good position to move his ranking forward towards, you know, top 100. And, you know, through the whole summer, he really has an opportunity. So, in terms of timing of when this has happened, it's never a good time to have an injury. But for the window of opportunity that he has had for the clay, but now for the rest of the clay, the French and grass and the hard courts in America, is quite a big opportunity. So, if he can manage it throughout the summer, that would be advantageous. He might be able to manage it for the rest of his career. If it does break down again, then then we're gonna have to look at wrist surgery.

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