Soares Recalls Bout With Four Knives & '12 Hours Of Surviving'

Darren Carroll/USTA

Bruno Soares was excited to fly to Tokyo in July for his third Olympics. The Brazilian doubles star flew from Sao Paolo to Houston without incident. When Soares picked up his backpack in Houston for his four-and-a-half hour layover, he felt discomfort in his abdominal area and attributed it to gas. After eating breakfast, drinking coffee and relaxing, the 39-year-old boarded without feeling pain.

That is when a normal travel day turned into travel hell.

“They served food about 45 minutes in. As soon as I finished lunch, it was like someone came with four knives and just put them in my abs. It was out of nowhere. The pain went from being uncomfortable to being incredibly painful,” Soares told ATPTour.com. “Then it was just 12 hours of surviving. I threw up twice because of the pain. It was quite a tough flight.”

Upon arrival at the Olympic Village in Tokyo, Soares received treatment from doctors, who gave him painkillers and began treatment. The Belo Horizonte-native had appendicitis, which required surgery.

“It’s been an interesting past couple months to say the least. It was a tough thing for me. The timing couldn’t have been worse,” Soares said. “We know how big the Olympics are, but it’s even bigger when you have it once every four years. Not only that, but I missed the whole summer.

“I just appreciate that nothing worse happened. I got surgery there, everything went alright. That’s life, ups and downs. Not much to complain about.”

 

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After five days, Soares flew home to Brazil. But because of the surgery, he had to stay home for a month. The 34-time tour-level doubles titlist lost weight and muscle, and had to return to action “really slowly”.

“You recover from appendicitis,” Soares said. “But the rest of the body doesn’t really work, so you kind of have to take it easy and be smart with the comeback.”

Soares began hitting again two-and-a-half weeks before the start of the US Open. For the first week, he took it slowly to see how his body would react. That left him little time to prepare for the season’s final major alongside partner Jamie Murray. But on Monday, they battled past Dominik Koepfer and Emil Ruusuvuori in three sets to reach the quarter-finals.

“It’s been a crazy ride,” Soares said. “But to be honest I’m just happy to be back on court.”

Making the run even more special is having his six-year-old son in New York. Noah has walked up to his father after each match for a special handshake.

“It’s just amazing to have him around. I decided to have a boys’ trip only, so it’s just me, him and my coach, and it’s been amazing,” Soares said. “Honestly, the result is just the cherry on the cake on this trip. Whatever happens, it’s been a blast for me.

“I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to play. I want to play more. But to have him with me and experiencing everything, it’s been such a special feeling for me.”