[9] Aly Abou Eleinen (EGY) 3-0 Juan Vargas (COL) 13-11, 11-8, 11-7 (39m)
Aly Abou – back in action
It’s been a hard 4.5, 5 months since the injury, since I last played a tournament.
It was the worst feeling that ever happened to me to walk off court on crutches, people carrying me off court and I had no clue what I had then.
I had to hop on a flight back home to get an MRI on my knee. The flight back was terrible, they had me on a wheelchair. The MRI revealed that there were no tears in the ACL It was like a big sprain in my ACL and in the meniscus.
Nothing that required surgery, which was a good news.
I was on crutches for 45 days, elevating the knee, and giving myself some rest. Which was hard at times, but also gave me some time off, which I think was needed, now that I am looking back, since I graduated from Penn, I’ve gone back to back on Tour, playing around 15 tournaments a year for the past three years. So it was nice to give myself a break, spend some time with the family, and reflect about everything.
As soon as I got off crutches, I started to do rehab every day, and I’m so grateful to have PhysioCure on my side. Dr Wafey and his team helped me so much, I would go for 4 hours, in the pool, then see the physios, then get in the gym.
It was all about baby steps. First, learning to walk again, then building back the muscles, because I lost so much muscles, and I had to believe I was going to be back, and that was the most difficult part. I would go back and watch myself playing, to see myself move, while asking myself, will I ever be able to compete at this level again?
Having my mental coach Jesse Englebrecht, having my coach Hesham El Attar at my side, it was massive. I can’t not mention my fiancée, Nour, my parents, my parents, having those guys kept me grounded, kept me present.
And the one thing I learned, was just to be present, just to show up. So I would drive an hour to physiocure in Tagamo as I live in 6th October, just to do some light ankle movement. And that would be it for the day. And I learned that, if I do that well, I’ll do a little bit more tomorrow. And you have to accept it’s not going to be a linear improvement.
I had days with pain, other pain free, but the worst part was the rest of the body overcompensating: the injured leg was very weak, so the ret of the body had to do more work. But with time, I started to strenthen the leg again, bit by bit, I started training, getting it in the mix.
I had to accept that early in those practice matches, I wasn’t going to get any wins, and slowly, starting to getting back and believing in myself.
About a month and a half ago, I started training with the guys, with coach Hesham, we had a very good pre-season, buiding my match fitness bit by bit, my fitness in general, my squash, and I think I’m in a good place right now.
Coming in against Juan… he is such a good player, he is quick, he is light, it was a tricky first round. I mean the first match of the season is always a bit tricky, let alone coming back from an injury but I’m happy, all my family was here today, they supported me and I got through.
