Portuguese tennis player Gastão Elias suffered a left calf injury during his first-round match at the Oeiras Open 4 on Tuesday, and confessed that it “will be very difficult to return to the court.”
The 35-year-old from Lourinhã, a former world No. 57, was facing compatriot Tiago Pereira when, on set point in the second set, he felt “a huge pain in the calf” while moving backward. He was forced to retire from the match with the score at 6-2, 3-6.
“I felt a very strong pain in the calf. I haven’t done tests yet, but I have an MRI scheduled for tomorrow morning [Wednesday], and most likely I have a calf tear, so there was no way I could finish the match,” Elias explained.
Given the misfortune, the Portuguese record holder for titles (10) and finals (23) on the ATP Challenger Tour expressed little optimism about returning to the courts, leaving open the possibility of ending his career at age 35.
“I have to find a job—I’m unemployed right now. I can’t play, and honestly it seems like a distant vision. I don’t see myself having much strength to reset and start everything again. I’m a few points away from losing my ranking, and I think… I don’t know, it’s going to be very difficult to play again,” said the tennis player, who has previously suffered several thigh tears.
Elias described the immediate aftermath: “I had already won the first set, was serving at 3-2 on the second set, and I was on the court—but I had already broken my serve to go 1-0 up. I was happy, the game was going well, and then in an instant, I felt a huge pain while stepping backwards. Worse luck than this is hard to find.”
The injury came at the worst possible moment for Elias, who had just leveled the match against Tiago Pereira after dropping the second set. He leaves the court visibly distressed, with his future as a professional tennis player now in serious doubt.