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After suffering a foot injury early in 2021, Wawrinka had
surgery in March that year but needed a second operation three
months later.
The Swiss, who made his comeback at a Challenger Tour event in
Marbella last month, losing in the opening round, said there
were times he thought he might never compete again.
"Of course, there were those questions in my mind," said
Wawrinka, who faces Alexander Bublik in the first round of the
claycourt tournament in Monte Carlo.
"I was afraid things wouldn't happen the way I wanted them to
happen, and when you have those difficult times and those
doubts, you know you need to go through rehab to be able to live
a normal daily life anyway.
"So in my mind, one way or the other, I knew I would want to
come back. Maybe saying goodbye, having pain would be an option,
but for the time being things are going well."
Three-times Grand Slam champion Wawrinka, who has slipped to
236th in the rankings, said his road to recovery was "very long
and difficult".
"I thought I would be (out) only a few weeks," he added. "It
lasted a whole year with many moments of doubts.
"My level is pretty good in practice, but I need to find my game
during matches ... try to do the right things and practise a lot
and stay positive, even if sometimes I feel very frustrated
because I can see what I need to do and I can't do it."
(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter
Rutherford)
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