ATP: Jürgen Melzer operated on the elbow

Jürgen Melzer underwent surgery on the left elbow on Monday.The 36-year-old from Lower Austria is hoping for a comback to the clay court season 2018 – possibly only in doubles.

Jürgen Melzer delayed this step for a long time.At the end of the day, however, the former World Rankings Eighth came to the conclusion that surgery on the elbow is inevitable:”It has not improved so much that I can train every day.If I want to play again, I have to do it anyway,”said the veteran before APA surgery.

Due to the injury on the outside of the elbow, Melzer will now pause another seven months.Since his first-round defeat in July in the Wimbledon qualifier, the left-hander has not played an official match.

Whether the former French Open semi-finalist will attack again in the singles is something he will not decide until the coming months:”I have to think about what I’m going to do now.It surely depends on the rehabilitation process and how my body will feel next year.It remains to be seen whether I will go all the way back to the singles,”Melzer explained.

A focus on the double is already more realistic:”I could well imagine that I would then concentrate on the double and let the individual career end slowly, but Melzer does not want to miss out on his Protected Ranking of about 125th place.After his return, he will then have nine tournaments to play his way back into the world rankings.