As promised, I will resume the story of my left knee injury, which I suffered in September.

But I will start with the end of the story: last week I returned to the ITF circuit after 8 weeks of forced break (after the hand injury – the first of 2023, in May – I was absent for 13 weeks).

And I won the first round match of a W15 tournament (my ranking suffered also a lot and I had to start almost from scratch; I didn’t know that my first absence will be so long, thus I didn’t freeze my ranking).

Last week, playing in Nulles
Credit foto: Jose Luis Martinez Ortiz 

It was a “small” victory, if we count the ranking and the age of my opponent, but for me it was a precious one, because it was the first since May in singles (in doubles, I won a title in August).
Thus, I regained confidence, state of mind so hard to achieve after an injury, a subject that I also wrote about.

Picking up where I left off my story, after I got injured in the first round of the ITF W25 Varna tournament, on September 12 I took the minibus home for a 6-hour trip.
I had quite a lot of pain in my knee, especially since I couldn’t stretch it due to insufficient space. I arrived at home at 3 in the morning, and at 7.30 a.m I already did the MRI, thanks to Dr. Ioana Ghervasie. The next day I also scheduled a consultation with Dr. Ştefan Mogoș, who had operated my other knee in 2020. The MRI showed a grade 3 meniscus tear and a patellar subluxation. I was told surgery was required, just like at the other knee.

But I wished it wasn’t the only option.

And my wish came true.
The physiotherapists from Osteo Performance (I’ll get back to them) are collaborating with Dr. Alin Pandea and sent him the MRI as well. He proposed a new treatment: infiltration with PRP and hyaluronic acid followed by three weeks of rehab and another three weeks of tennis practice.

That was very good news!
It was possible to avoid surgery!

Coming back to the present, in the meantime, I lost the second match at the tournament in Spain, a fairly contested one, in which I gave my best, but the lack of official matches was decisive, although I trained a lot.
Here I would like to add that regardless of how much and how well you practice in the period after an injury, it is impossible to replicate the challenges you are subjected in an official match, so it is very difficult to play right away at the same level as before.
Now, my body wouldn’t react properly after one set – won by me after a tie-break – and another half, and my mental along with it.
I addressed also this topic – when the physical factor leaves you, the mental one no longer has anything to rely on – in a “Court Chronicles” article.
But it’s good that the physique will return to the previous level, if I stay healthy, after playing more matches on the tour. 

Returning to the first days after the injury, I followed Dr. Pandea’s advice, I did the knee infiltration, and after two days I started the recovery with the physiotherapists from Osteo Performance, Traian Vidraşcu, Ilie Stancu, Alex Măzăreanu.
I want to thank them warmly for the competent help and support they gave me very patiently for 7 weeks.
The first three weeks consisted of muscle recovery exercises, swimming and gym sessions with arm exercises.
I did follow a strict schedule: on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I went to recovery, where I worked each day for three hours, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays I had arms workout and a swimming session. Sometimes I also added swimming on recovery days.

In the fourth week I resumed tennis practice. At first, without lateral movements because I was still afraid. At the end of the second week of tennis, I also moved normally on the court, so that in the third week I found the guts to play points in practice.
Of course, with the confidence transmitted from those around me and especially after my coach, Roxana Mohănescu, was very persuasive, in order to eliminate my anxieties.

You know that I have never avoided the financial issues on this blog – e.g. here, here or here – because I firmly believe that any voice that rises in favor of better financial conditions for the players counts.

I am grateful for the chances that I was offered, from the financial point of view, after this injury and without them I don’t know how I would have been able to complete the recovery process.

First of all, the infiltration procedure was almost 10 times cheaper than a meniscus surgery. Let me add here that Dr. Alin Pandea always offered me, after the intervention, detailed advice online, including last week.
Then, the guys from Osteo Performance showed great generosity.
I also want to mention my old and good friend, Irina Fetecău, who introduced me to them.
Also, Călin Moga, the owner of the club where I am registered, Sporstin Arad, helped me financially.
And finally – actually this list should start with them – my coach, Roxana Mohănescu and my trainer, Mihai Anghel, who have been by my side for a long time and showed the same financial generosity.
Special thanks to everyone.

Everything went well, I could feel every day how my knee was progressing and I could have had more and more confidence in it, so together with the team I decided that after the fourth week of tennis, I should play a tournament.
The goal was to test the knee, to see how it reacts to higher demands than those during practice.

So, I traveled to Spain, and my knee was ok for 3 official matches, two singles and one doubles.

I admit that I was a little upset about losing the round of 16 match, but now, as I write this article, I realize how hard I worked to get back on the court and how much mental strength and support I needed to be fit for official matches after the injury.

Even we, the players, sometimes forget, after the first defeat, how hard we worked and how hard it is to come back after an injury, and we get upset that we didn’t win more matches.

So, all I can do is to stay positive, continue this difficult process of getting back in shape and be patient until my physical fitness will get back at its level.