Tennis: The "Tommy Guns" keep firing

For Tommy Robredo, it has been a journey back from the brink, similar to that of compatriot and 8-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal. Though not on the same scale, Robredo strained his left abductor muscle and suffered a leg injury midway through the 2011 season. Those twin blows put him on the sidelines for the rest of the season as well as the whole of 2012, mainly playing only Challenger events.

Robredo was one of the most consistent players of his generation before the injury. He reached as far up as No.5 in 2006 and always did well at the Australian and French Opens. For the first time, he ventured out of the top 100 in the world after 9 successive seasons, due to the injury. His comeback from injury has been as good as that of Nadal’s, with a title win at Casablanca and that phenomenal run at Roland Garros. In three consecutive matches, Robredo was 2-sets-to-love down and yet, defying belief, he fought back to pull through those matches in 5 sets, in the process becoming the first man since Henri Cochet at Wimbledon in 1927 to win three on the bounce from such a deficit.

The fat lady had been warming up to sing in each of those games, but little did she know that the man from Girona was singing an altogether different tune. His remarkable endurance and superhuman exploits rightly earned him the title of ‘Iron-man’ at the tournament. He also supplanted the local and vocal Frenchman Gael Monfils as the “feel good story” of the Slam.

Enduring pain yet continuing to dream

“I was tired and in pain. So to come back, it’s a lovely dream. I was down in all of the last three sets, but I just pushed hard. I was just dreaming of winning the third set. Then I dreamt of winning the fourth set and then the last and I did it”, said an exhausted yet delighted Robredo after his 4th round win over Nicolas Almagro.

”There’s never a guarantee, but at the same time if you work hard, usually it pays off,” he said reflecting on his comeback from injury to climb the rankings. “But again, it’s easy sometimes to throw in the towel and say, ‘I’m done. I have achieved a lot of things, I don’t really have to worry so much financially and I can live a good life.’ But at the same time, maybe there was something in me still that said, ‘You know what? I can maybe still do something.’ I’m really happy I made that choice.”

We are all glad that both he and Robredo made that choice to return to the courts. Their French Open campaigns may have come to a halt in the quarterfinals, but their spirit and love for the game continues to flow in abundance. These ‘Tommy Guns’, through all the countless battles, never seem to get old. With every round fired, they continue to leave their mark on the biggest stages, entertaining and inspiring us in the same breath, much like the ‘ol M1 Thompson.