Whatever happened to … Tommy Robredo?

You may have seen Tommy Robredo pop up in a few ATP event draws lately with the letters ‘PR’ beside his name.

That’s tennis shorthand for Protected Ranking, a benefit for players who suffer a long-term injury and apply to have their ranking frozen around the mark they enjoyed before their hiatus. This makes it easier to for them to gain entry into tournaments on their return.

Robredo’s protected ranking is 57, something he’s used to enter seven ATP events in 2017. It’s set to expire after nine tournaments at which he uses it; after that he’ll revert to his actual ranking for tournament entry. That ranking, currently, is No.287.

So how has Robredo found himself in this position?

A former world No.5 back in 2006, the Spaniard still maintained a position in the top 50 as recently as April 2016. Yet a first-round thrashing at the hands of Novak Djokovic in Dubai last year was the last time we would see Robredo on a tennis court for almost seven months.

The then 34-year-old underwent right elbow surgery in Barcelona; by the time he returned, he’d slipped into the 250s. A month later, he was outside the top 450. A few months later – a year on from the Djokovic loss – he’d dipped to No.550.

The road back is a long one.

“Work, work, work,” Robredo said when speaking to Tennismash about what he did when sidelined in 2016. “Because one thing is you’re out. The other thing is that you’re trying to recover as quick as possible. You’re always in the gym and with the physio and just trying to recover. Obviously spending some time at home which is also nice, but anyway, (mainly) just working.”

Although Robredo has competed at more prominent tournaments in 2017 – the Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo Masters events as well as ATP 500 stops in Rio and Barcelona – his comeback actually began late last year.

Playing predominantly on the Challenger circuit, Robredo went a meagre 7-7, struggling to recapture the form that saw him reach seven Grand Slam quarterfinals, including five on clay at Roland Garros.

This season has offered glimpses of hope. In his first match of the year, at the Argentina Open in February, he beat Fabio Fognini, while in April he advanced to the quarterfinals of the ATP claycourt event in Marrakech, beating world No.12 Grigor Dimitrov along the way.

“I think that I’m not in my best shape but in a way every week I’m feeling much, much better, especially physically,” he told Tennismash. “And I think I need a couple more weeks to get the rhythm. Obviously I had a good win with Dimitrov, and Stakhovsky maybe here in the first round (in Marrakech), but anyway I think it’s important that every day I’m feeling better and more consistent, and that’s the best thing.”

This week, Robredo travelled to Portugal for the Millennium Estoril Open, winning his opening round match against Evgeny Donskoy before pushing top seed Pablo Carreno Busta in a 7-6(5) 7-5 second-round loss. He remains alive in the doubles event, advancing to the semifinals with fellow Spaniard David Marrero.

During the week in Estoril Robredo turned 35, an age at which many a fellow pro has already departed the game.

At this stage of his career, in his 20th season as a pro and having won his last ATP title four years ago, we asked what keeps him going.

“I like what I do, I think that’s the easiest thing. When you go to one place and you like what you are doing and every day you get up you try to improve, or you try to work harder to get your level, it’s easy, no?” Robredo answered. “Obviously it’s not that easy to get the level or to be where you want to be, but that’s the goal. Just to try to be better and better and try to achieve a great comeback, and that’s what I’m going to try to do. So I like what I’m doing.

“I would like to play for a year or for a couple of years physically free and being able to play my game, just without thinking about any injury, no? I think that’s the goal that I have. It’s not a matter of winning here or wining there.

“It’s just a matter of trying to enjoy and play every single week as good as I can.”