Federer: ‘It’s not an injury, it’s just pain’

Roger Federer battled through pain and restricted movement on the way to victory over Tennys Sandgren in the fourth round of the Australian Open today. Federer appeared to struggle to move freely from the third set onwards but was able to find a way to win. Speaking to the press gallery post match, Federer made a point of not labelling his movement difficulties as an injury. “I wouldn’t call it an injury. It was just pain and tightness”.

Former professional player turned, ATP Physiotherapist Steve Catostrophisosky did not share Federer’s seemingly calm, perhaps even optimistic outlook. The Good Health Tribune spoke with Catostrophisosky late this evening. “Roger was moving terribly out there. Admittedly I was only watching from the couch but I do have an expert eye for movement dysfunction. It wouldn’t surprise me if he has a grade II triple pyke torsion strain to his left L5/S1 z-joint. And given that the symptoms seemed to be insidious in their onset, I’d be expecting his lumbar spine MRI to come back with some serious signs of intervertebral disc pathology.”

We asked Catastrophisosky to rate Federer’s chances of recovering in time for Thursday night’s semifinal showdown with tournament favourite and number two seed Novak Djokovic. “Fed is no chance. If I was his treating Physio I’d be telling him forget about this tournament and focus on getting his spinal alignment sorted out in time for the U.S hard court season.”

When asked if his prognosis might be a touch on the pessimistic side, Catastrophisosky replied, “You don’t get to being a top level ATP Physio by being some kind of bleeding heart movement optimist.”