Carreno Busta: 'I thought about retirement... but I prefer to be on court'

For as much as Pablo Carreno Busta relished the highs of a standout 2022 season, it concluded with a disappointing ending.

The Spaniard had captured his biggest career title that year at the ATP Masters 1000 in Montreal and just weeks later, he reached the fourth round at the US Open. At No. 13 in the PIF ATP Rankings that November, Carreno Busta was aiming for a Top 10 return, the elite group he had not been a part of in more than four years.

But at his final outing of the year, competing in the Davis Cup Finals on home soil in Malaga, things changed. Carreno Busta felt pain in his right elbow at the beginning of the week and in a hard-fought, three-set loss to Croatia’s Marin Cilic, the discomfort intensified.

“I could play, but I felt the pain,” Carreno Busta said at last week’s ATP Challenger Tour 75 event in Tenerife. “We tried to do some treatments before starting the 2023 season and at some times it was good, but at other times, it was worse. In the end, it was a long time with the elbow problem.”

Carreno Busta played just five tournaments in 2023 before opting for surgery in November, a year after the pain began. By the time he returned to the Tour, at Roland Garros last season, the Gijon native had dropped to No. 1,049 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

“I had a protected ranking, but when you start after a long time, it’s always difficult to get the rhythm and confidence again,” Carreno Busta said. “And also physically, to get ready to play a lot of matches in a row. It was tough at the beginning. So I tried to work as much as I could to be a 100 per cent physically and mentally.”

The long layoff did not just affect the 33-year-old’s forehands and backhands.

“It was a long, long time. So, mentally, emotionally, it was also very tough for me to continue fighting, to continue doing all the things that I had to do, to recover and to be healthy again,” Carreno Busta said. “So, probably more tough mentally, but it is true that physically it was very, very tough as well. It is really tough to come back to the best of the world.

“I know you need to try to be positive all the time. But sometimes it is very difficult or maybe impossible to do it. On some occasions, it is true that I thought a lot about retirement. But I prefer to be on court.”

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The Spaniard, who has played a more regular schedule since last June, is motivated to return to the ATP Tour full time and add to his seven trophies at that level. He earned eight tour-level match wins last season, highlighted by a semi-final run in Winston-Salem.

Already this season, Carreno Busta won his first-round match at the Australian Open and most recently, he claimed back-to-back ATP Challenger Tour titles in Tenerife — the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands.

Carreno Busta’s week-one title in Tenerife marked his first triumph at any level since that dream run in Montreal in 2022. If you could see into the future, that would be difficult news to share with the Spaniard in one of the brightest moments of his career.

Now a 13-time Challenger champion, Carreno Busta dropped just one set across his nine matches to lift the champion’s trophy both weeks. Local fans flocked to the event, baking in the island’s sun and getting a glimpse of the former Top 10 star.

“Everything was perfect. Physically I was 100 per cent again, so that’s very satisfying,” Carreno Busta said. “After a long time with the elbow injury, it was great to win a title again. That last one was a Masters 1000 and this one was an ATP Challenger. It was very emotional also because it was two-and-a-half years ago.”

^{Pablo Carreno Busta in action at the Tenerife Challenger. Credit: Alessandro De Vita}

After two weeks in the winner’s circle, Carreno Busta is up to No. 111 — his best mark in the PIF ATP Rankings since August 2023 and a vast difference from where he was a year ago, with a four-digit number next to his name.

“My goal at this moment is to be in the Top 100 again. I think I am ready to do it,” Carreno Busta said. “I know that if I continue this way, it will arrive soon.”

Carreno Busta also made a coaching change this offseason. After a long partnership with Samuel Lopez, who has now joined Carlos Alcaraz’s camp, Carreno Busta is under the supervision of Victor Lopez Moron from the Tennis Empowerment Center in Barcelona.

“It was an amazing career with Samuel and Ferrero Academy. I thank them a lot for being there for a long time, during a lot of years,” Carreno Busta said. “And now thinking about the future, I think I am in one of the best places to be.”

Happy Pablo 😁@pablocarreno91 with Challenger trophy No. 1⃣3⃣ 👏#ATPChallenger | @meftennisevents pic.twitter.com/ATqIWL7Alq

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) February 16, 2025