Carolina Marín: “I've used my down time to improve my techniques”

The Olympic gold medallist had already been seen training a week after surgery, albeit from a sitting position – but this has really brought her game on, the 26-year-old says.

Although she does not have a firm idea of when she will be playing professionally again, Carolina fully intends to try for her fourth world championship if her knee does not let her down – but says recovering from her injury is 'the most important thing'.

The four-times European champion admits that she became very low after her injury, fearing it would cost her a place in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but that her down time has actually helped her improve.

“I've never been out of action for this long, and it's done me good because we've used that time to work on techniques we've never had time to focus on before,” Carolina reveals.

“Normally, it's nearly impossible to find time to train on the finer details of the game, but I've been able to now, and I feel as though I've improved a great deal.”

Her trainer, Fernando Rivas (pictured right, with his pupil), says Carolina and her team have had to 'reinvent themselves', but that everything has been 'going very well'.

The initial prognosis was that she would not be able to compete again for six to eight months after the operation, meaning at the earliest late July and possibly the end of September, but she and Rivas both say the injury is healing faster than expected.

Meanwhile, Carolina continues to work on her techniques sitting down or standing, so she has not had to waste the time she has been off the court and will only need to focus on getting match-fit again.