Exclusive: Lloyd Harris talks about his horror run of injuries

South Africa tennis star Lloyd Harris has had a horror run of injuries over the past year – but there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

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“It’s been tough. The last year has been stacked with injuries,” Harris told The South African website’s Dave Marshall at the French Open in Paris on Tuesday.

The week after this year’s Australian Open, Harris reached the semi-finals of a Challenger tournament in Tenerife.

“I pulled out. I didn’t play the semi-final due to a right glute injury,” Harris said.

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He was out for a month with this injury.

“Without playing for a month, I went to Indian Wells.

“I tried to play qualifying there. It didn’t go well with my body.”

Things did not improve for the 26-year-old Cape Town-born star on the injury front.

“I had to pull out of Miami. I pulled out of Doha, Dubai, all because of my glute.

“It kind of messed up my entire schedule.”

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Harris only returned to full training a couple of weeks ago and has felt more positive since his arrival in Europe.

“I started my journey back to tennis in Korea which was also a very tough start.

“Since I’ve been in Europe I’ve been feeling a bit better.”

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When asked what he attributed his run of injuries to, Harris went back to the start of the year as a potential explanation.

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“It was a build up of playing so many matches in January. I played semi-finals and finals in the Challenger’s in Thailand.

“I had a 5-set match (win) against (Lorenzo) Musetti in the first round of the Australian Open.

“I also had some good doubles results with Raven (Klaasen) at the Australian Open.

“It was just a lot of matches for me after not playing for eight months in 2022 (Harris was out for a lengthy period after an operation on his right wrist).”

“I think that’s what has kind of pushed it over the edge. I think we just pushed it a little bit too far.”

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Harris then reflected on his return to tennis at the start of 2023.

“It was the fittest I’d ever been after such hard work.

“When I had the problem with my wrist, I was still able to train, I was running, and working hard on my fitness levels.”

Hopefully, Harris will be able to return to full fitness so that he can play more of his best tennis.

This article was originally published by Garrin Lambley.