Junior tennis player Kristof Minarik is back for another spring season after suffering an elbow injury that caused him to miss almost all of last year’s campaign.
“It feels good (to be back),” Minarik said. “I’m still not completely healed. It’s still bothering me, but it feels nice to be able to compete again.”
Minarik suffered an injury known as “golfer’s elbow,” where pain is felt inside the part of the elbow connecting to the forearm. While the injury put Minarik out of play, it didn’t keep him from staying involved and active with the team.
“Instead of practicing, I was just doing rehab,” Minarik said. “I was still hanging out with the team, cheering them on during the matches.”
During his recovery, Minarik did exercises that strengthened and stretched the elbow. In addition, Minarik took treatments such as ultrasound and red light therapy.
“It’s just been very repetitive, doing the same stuff all over again and not being sure if it’s helping or not,” Minarik said.
Minarik thinks that the lost confidence can be regained by simply playing more matches.
“We had some close matches,” Minarik said. “But it just proves that we were right there, and we can beat those teams. Once you keep winning, this just all goes together and helps you.”
WSU head coach Darragh Glavin thinks Minarik has come back stronger from his injury.
“I would say that he’s obviously mentally tougher out there,” Glavin said. “I think maybe in the past, he got frustrated easier. He’s just happy to compete again, but also the results are getting there. He’s seeing the success and still playing through pain.”
Although Minarik has felt good enough to return to the asphalt, he admits that he still isn’t 100%.
“(I’ve) definitely lost some confidence,” Minarik said. “It’s hard to not be competing for whatever, six (or) seven months, and still having some pain. But I don’t think I lost any ability to play tennis.”
