Sam Groth’s second career starts with an injury: The Australian was seriously injured in training for his Australian football team.
That we can’t be fooled: tennis is also a full contact sport, no question about it. At least 1050 times, Bob Bryan rammed his chest against another player’s chest. Well, Brother Mike has rammed back, the whole thing was marked by extraordinary timing, in addition to the friendly fact that the Bryans are quite exactly the same size. If Sam Groth had tried a similar stunt with his partner at his farewell tournament, the Australian Open 2018, Lleyton Hewitt’s forehead would have landed quite centrally on Groth’s chin at the same jump height.
Speaking of which: The latter didn’t want to rest for a long time after joining the tennis board, turned to his second passion (as many Australians seem to have – just think of Nick Kyrgios? strong affinity for basketball), the Australian version of football. This variant combines the best elements of pure rugby, football and fortunately not much of football in the USA: game flow, hardness, speed. Originally made for a giant like Sam Groth, who has to push his ambitions to the next year.
During training with the team from North Heidenberg, the 30-year-old was injured so badly that his shoulder had to be completely reconstructed:”It was a very simple drill, with a bit of physical contact, actually nothing serious,”says Groth,”I received a blow below the elbow, but the contact completely lifted my shoulder.” An operation was inevitable. It’s not a nice start into the second sportsman’s life.