“I’m devastated, I don’t know if I’ll ever pick up a tennis racket again”

Carolina Marin (31), gold medalist at the 2016 Rio Games, announced this Sunday through a video that, after injuring his left knee in Paris, his soul is broken and he does not know if he will ever pick up a racket again.

“I am devastated, I can’t tell you anything else, my soul is totally devastated. It was a very hard blow, I will need a lot of time, more than I needed with previous injuries. I need to recover, especially physically, Fortunately, the operation went very well.“, even though it was the worst time I have ever destroyed my knee,” the athlete said in a video shared by her press department on social media.

The three-time world champion and eight-time European champion has also said that she does not know if she will ever pick up a badminton racket again. After being injured in Paris just eleven points away from securing a place in the final, the Huelva native needs to recover, both physically and psychologically.

“I don’t know what will become of Carolina Marín in the future, I don’t know if I’ll play again, if I’ll pick up a racket again. “As for badminton, whether I will ever compete again or return to the Olympics, I don’t know. Right now that’s the last thing I think about, what my body and especially my mind think about the most is having peace and tranquility with myself,” she said, visibly moved.

To overcome this situation, Carolina has asked fans for “space” and has thanked them for all the affection she has received during these last few days.I know I don’t have to prove anything to anyone, it was something I wanted to prove to myself. Now Carolina needs to surround herself with her family, her friends and her people and slowly rebuild herself.“, he concluded.

The player was injured during her semi-final match at the Paris Olympics against China’s He Bing Jiao. After winning the first set 21-14 and when she was beating the Asian 10-6 in the second, Marín, ranked fourth in the world, fell to the ground with her hand on her knee. She was treated and put on a knee brace to continue the match, but after playing and losing two more points against Jiao, she was unable to continue.

She left the main court at the Porte de la Chapelle in tears. The 2016 Olympic gold medal winner in Rio de Janeiro was left without a medal after being unable to compete in the 2020 Games in Tokyo, also due to a serious injury to her left knee. After her tears of pain on the court, she received warm support from the Spanish fans, including a message from Felipe VI and Queen Letizia.