Speaking on The Sit-Down podcast, Australian star Storm Sanders gave a progress report on her Achilles injury and her steps toward a comeback.
Melbourne, Australia, 7 July 2024 | Matt Trollope
Storm Hunter is an incredible example of the power of positive thinking.
The Australian, 2023’s season-ending world No.1 in doubles and who was trending towards the top 100 in singles, ruptured her Achilles as she practised ahead of Australia’s Billie Jean King Cup tie against Mexico in April.
It’s a significant injury with a typical recovery timeline of 12 months, meaning Hunter’s plans to return to Wimbledon – where she was a doubles finalist last year – and represent Australia at the Paris 2024 Olympics were no longer.
Hunter admitted on this week’s episode of The Sit-Down that it had been hard watching Roland Garros from her living room, but she was taking positives from the progress she was seeing in her recovery.
“You’re always wanting to be there and (thinking) that’s where I should be and what-not, but it was also really fun to watch my friends play, watch the Australian players do well and support them from afar, and just stay connected to tennis,” she said, following a rehab session at Melbourne’s National Tennis Centre.
LISTEN: Storm Hunter on The Sit-Down
“At the moment I’m good. I think it will change, I know there’ll be some tougher moments, but I’ve got really good people around me who every day are motivating me and keeping me on track.
“(Rehab) can tend to feel really slow, especially in those early stages when you can’t do much. But every single week I feel like I’ve progressed a little bit. This week I’m starting to walk a little bit out of the moon-boot, which is very, very exciting. I’m getting my independence back a little bit more, which is good; my husband was having to do literally everything for me.
“Even if it’s something so little, you kind of have to celebrate that. And that’s what I’ve been really trying to do. I’ve been journaling a lot, actually, and each week I write down what I did this week that I couldn’t do last week.
“For example, last week I couldn’t put my shoe on because my foot was still too swollen. This week I can actually put my shoe on, so I’m like, ‘wow, Storm, you’ve improved!’”
Hunter believes the fact she has studied psychology at university is helping her to put certain tools she has learned into…
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