TENNIS is now one of more than a dozen sports allowed as lockdowns are slowly being relaxed amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
This gives national team mainstay Alberto Lim Jr. a sigh of relief after missing the court—like everybody else all over the world—for more than two months since the pandemic protocols crashed through the ceiling.
“It’s going to be exciting knowing that we can all go back to our training,” Lim told the BusinessMirror on Wednesday.
Lim, who turned 21 years old two Mondays ago, was stuck in his condominium unit in Manila since March.
The former University of the East star and University Athletic Association of the Philippines Most Valuable Player said he was close to giving up tennis because of the quarantine.
“To be honest, it’s been tough,” Lim said.
A week before the enhanced community quarantine was imposed in the country, Lim and his national teammates—Jeson Patrombon, Francis Casey Alcantara and Ruben Gonzales—slammed into a brick wall of a Greek side in the World Group II Davis Cup tie at the Philippine Columbian Association’s Plaza Dilao courts in Paco, Manila.
Lim had the luxury—or the gargantuan task—of facing World No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the opening singles. He absorbed a 2-6, 1-6 beating at the hands of the rising world star who only recently before the duel with the Filipinos engaged—but lost—world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in an exciting Dubai Championship final.
The Greeks went on to dominate the tie, giving Lim and company an enriching experience.
Lim stayed fit by doing indoor exercises in the early weeks of the lockdown. But the fun turned into agonizing moments as the courts beckon the player who honed at the L’Academie de Tennis in Florida, US.
“I was still working out and doing every day fitness stuff but then the second month it got boring so I started resting my body and mind to refresh,” Lim said. “Then the mental agony set in.”
With the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center which was refurbished to championship luster for last December’s 30th Southeast Asian Games still off limits because the complex is serving as a quarantine center, Lim looks toward the Dapitan Tennis Club courts as alternative.
“I’m hungry to get back to the court,” he said.