Alejandro Davidovich Fokina Opens Up About Injury Battle After Reaching Shanghai Semis

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina admits he should have stopped playing at Wimbledon earlier this year due to a back issue which ended up sidelining him from the Tour.

The world No.26 missed more than two months of the Tour, with the Shanghai Masters being only the third event in his comeback. At the tournament, Davidovich Fokina reached the semi-finals on Thursday after Arthur Gea retired 1-4 down with a psoas injury (a muscle that connects his lower spine and pelvis to the upper leg).

Davidovich Fokina won the Chengdu Open last month and is 8-1 on the Tour since returning from injury. In Shanghai, he has also defeated Frances Tiafoe and Hubert Hurkacz by prevailing in a final-set tiebreak. It is a dream resurgence for the 27-year-old after his recent setback.

“In my first match at Wimbledon, I had problems with my back. I continued (playing), but I shouldn’t. I was playing very good, so I couldn’t quit,” Fokina explained to reporters in Shanghai.

“After that, I did an MRI. I had a protrusion, almost a hernia. I played Umag, but it didn’t go well for my back. After that, we decided to stop, to recover my back.”

The Spaniard spent three weeks resting his back without playing tennis. During this period, he dropped from 20th to 30th in the PIF ATP rankings.

“To start playing tennis again, it’s not easy to be a hundred percent. I don’t want to go to Cincinnati at 50 percent. When I came back, I wanted to be a hundred percent, as I did from Chengdu.” He continued.

“Mentally it was very tough, because I wanted to play the American swing, I always enjoy it. My back was not ready when I was playing points.

“But in the end it’s kind of a process. A lot of players have similar things.”

Now back to full fitness, Davidovich has risen to 18th in the PIF ATP Live Rankings by reaching the semi-finals in Shanghai, where he will play either Alexander Zverev or Alex de Minaur next. He has been ranked as high as 14th in the world.

“It’s always happy to be in this kind of situation, to be in the last rounds in the Masters 1000s,” he said.

“In the end, not many players can be there. I’m very grateful and I’m very happy to be in this kind of situation again.”

This is the fourth time Davidovich Fokina has reached a Masters semi-final in his career. His best run was to the final of the 2022 Monte Carlo Masters.