Update:
Ive been getting some therapy treatment for my wrist the last few weeks. It uses Dexameth medicine, and im hooked up to something electric for about 20 minutes. After the first few sessions I thought it was helping a little but didnt think it was making a significant impact, but now I am really pleased with how it has gone. I hit for a little with our top junior player for 40 minutes after the drills yesterday, and I am hitting the ball so much better than a week and 2 weeks ago. I am now able to say that I can hit my normal forehand without thinking about pain, because its a small amount. I cant tell you the rush I get when Im hitting; being able to hit the ball hard and well again like that and play some baseline games just fills me with adrenaline and is really fun. Its more a feeling, I cant describe it very well. Its a result of not being able to do this for so long. 7 months has been a very long time for me. This makes me realize how much I love playing this game, and that I am a deeply competitive person that has been deprived of competiton for too long. The better you get at something, the more satisfying it can be. I love battling out there and putting everything Ive got into hitting from the baseline and running fast all over the place. I simply enjoy being able to hit some good shots again.
I cant kid myself either though. I am still unable to hit the two-handed backhand without pain. I also havent attempted serves or overheads because I know it will hurt and I am scared to try since that is the shot the injury occured with. Those shots are obviously necessary to compete at my best, and compete against a high level player. Volleys hurt as Ive said, but this week Ive been able to actually hit some decent volleys with only moderate pain. It was just a week or 2 weeks ago that I totally avoided volleys when possible because when the ball met my racket with that tight wrist, it hurt alot. I usally did whatever I could just to get the ball in and didnt think about hitting it the better correct/more painful way. Still, after this improvement, and playing against the good junior players here recently, I honestly believe that I could beat most players right now that I would face by using my forehand, slice backhand, avoid overheads and volley sparingly, and do a topspin forehand serve. However, I know I would get totally owned by the good players Im used to having close matches with in this manner.
It would be difficult for me to play a tournament this summer like this, and feel embarassed losing a lop-sided match to a player that normally I would either beat, or have a decent chance of beating. Therefore, I will have to test the waters and try serving at least sometime before the end of April, being able to do so with at least minimum power, and possibly get a cortisone injection to be able to hit backhands (much less practice it and hit it well again after 8 months of absence).
All in all, Im pretty happy with the way my recovery is going. At the same time, I have a ways to go, and I cant get ecstatic until Im playing my full, usual tennis again. In other news, I found out today that someone recorded my Aquatennial tournaments singles final back in July, and has copies of it on DVD that I will receive a complimentary copy of. I should maybe be able to post some recent tennis of mine then, and in a match situation, rather than the videos in this thread which are just drilling and from about 2004, before I had improved alot more. I will update again some day when I have further developments or figure out how to post clips of that match on here.
