24th October, 1999

Surgery decision clear-cut

SURGERY is something I have always avoided, but I have no alternative after having a Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan on Wednesday. As soon as the result of the scan of my right shoulder came through, an arthroscopy was recommended.

The operation will take place today and I am confident of making a full recovery. There is a good chance I'll be playing the Australian Open in January.

If there was a way around the operation, I would have taken it.

Unfortunately, it is crunch time. Without the operation, I could be in trouble in six months. There has been suggestions in the media that the rotator-cuff tear in my shoulder was misdiagnosed by Dr David Altchek. That is false.

I am sure that if I had stayed in New York for a little bit longer during the US Open in September, David would have had another look and decided that surgery was necessary.

If anything, I wish I'd had the operation in September. I suspected I was in trouble last week when I tried to hit serves in practice, and the arm really hurt when the tendon was releasing itself. I tried to hit through it, but it was clear there was something still seriously wrong.

The way I serve has definitely had an impact on the shoulder. But that's the way I play. It's my style and if I can't play that way, I really can't play.

The muscles and tendons in the shoulder are really strong and I'm optimistic I can recover and be even stronger.

At this stage, I'm pretty confident of playing in the Australian Open (January 17-30), but if the shoulder is not right, I will not be jumping in too early. I do not want to jeopardise my prospects for next year.

Provided I come through the surgery all right, we will be taking a slightly different direction with my rehabilitation. My shoulders are a little lopsided from playing a predominantly one-sided sport, so we are going to try to straighten them.

I am also going to have a different schedule next year. The aim was to play less this year, but it did not quite work out.

I ended up playing a lot of matches all of a sudden and our success in the Davis Cup led to an increased workload. Next year, I want to have a more controlled schedule so that the tournaments are better spaced.

But the first priority is to make sure the shoulder is right.

I guess you never know what may happen or what the doctors may find, but I can not control that. If there is a problem, I will deal with that hurdle when I come to it.

Provided everything goes well, I'll do some of the rehab in Melbourne before heading home to Brisbane, and possibly over to Bermuda to prepare for the Australian Open.

It's really disappointing to miss the Davis Cup final. It's something I have always wanted to be part of, but I'm sure the boys can do the job.