Post-Injury Medal, Marin’s Triumph of Grit

Post-Injury Medal, Marin’s Triumph of Grit

Knee injuries have killed many a career, but Carolina Marin is different. The Spaniard, survivor of two knee surgeries, assured herself of a fourth World Championships medal – her first since her second surgery two years ago – with a quarterfinal decimation of Tai Tzu Ying. The colour of the medal is as yet uncertain, but in her explosion of joy after her victory, the significance of the achievement was evident.

“I think no one can imagine how tough it is two have two surgeries, to be a year away from the circuit, and to come back and train hard every day,” said Marin.

“This week I came here to get a gold, but we need to go step by step. I cannot describe (its importance), it’s hard to express my emotions; you just have to feel it yourself. I’m proud of myself, because today I felt some trouble on court. I improved a lot, especially the mental part.

“Every tournament is important, but to come back from surgery is very very tough. I came here and I think I showed a great performance, and everyone could see that I’ve done well physically and mentally.”

Facing her in the semifinals will be Akane Yamaguchi, who is looking to match Marin’s haul of three world titles. The other semifinal will see favourite An Se Young against Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei.

While Marin was animated about her fourth World Championships medal, HS Prannoy was quiet satisfaction at having achieved his first – and it had been a while coming. At two previous World Championships he had fallen in the quarterfinals.

On Thursday he executed the biggest takedown of the 2023 edition – outplaying Viktor Axelsen in an intricate battle of wills, with the two-time champion seemingly falling apart under pressure in uncharacteristic fashion.

Axelsen had had a great start, but Prannoy buckled down for some gruelling long rallies, his defence well-organised, injecting pace at opportune moments. Cracks started to appear in Axelsen’s fortress in the second game, and they only widened as the possibility of an upset loomed, with the pressure of defending the world title finally coming to bear on the favourite.

“I finally have a World Championships medal!” said Prannoy.

“Today it was all about being patient. He was looking very strong in the first game, and with the crowd backing him, it was feeling very tough. But that’s where things change. It won’t last, things change, so you have to trust your instincts and keep at it until the time changes. I just trusted that it would change for me.”

Axelsen admitted the pressure had got to him:

“I definitely felt a bit of pressure … I felt pressure about my own level not being where I wanted to. I was surprised at how many errors I made. I didn’t feel comfortable at all, the way I had hoped to. But that’s just life. I have to learn from it. Fantastic support, so obviously I’m disappointed to let the Danish fans down, however, that’s how it is. You win some, you lose some.

“I definitely didn’t play the way I hoped to, especially in the second and third game. That’s life. All credit to Prannoy, he played a really good game.”