Carolina Marin’s most significant win yet on her comeback from last year’s injury happened in suitably dramatic fashion, in the third round of the TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2022 today.
With a quarterfinal place on the line, Marin was down four match points against He Bing Jiao, before her combativeness and He Bing Jiao’s own unsteadiness helped the three-time world champion take one more step towards claiming her fourth title. The Spaniard prevailed 16-21 21-15 22-20.
In June last year Marin had suffered her second major injury, an ACL tear in her left knee, which forced her to skip the Olympics and last year’s World Championships. On her comeback this year, she won the European Championships in April, but suffered early exits at the Indonesia Open and Malaysia Open.
“I pushed hard to keep fighting until the end. She was leading in the third game, but when she was up 20-16, I said to myself, you have four points to get to 20-all and you have to keep fighting. I wanted to show her that I wanted to win.
“I’m happy to play this kind of match. This kind of victory is really important for me; to be away for more than one year, to have two serious injuries, your confidence is not at the top, but to get this victory was very important, and it gives me confidence to face other top players.
“An injury for a top player, it’s really hard. But when you have two serious injuries, and when you’re away for a long time from the circuit, it’s really tough on your body but mainly mentally. To be away for more than one year, not playing this kind of game against top players, sometimes your confidence is not high, but today this win gives me confidence for sure.”