CNN
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Mónica Puig gained greater than 300 video games throughout her time tennis race and the sensation afterwards was usually the identical: reduction, pleasure and satisfaction that the weeks and months of sacrifice and preparation had paid off.
As we speak, precisely one yr after shoulder issues pressured her to retire at age 28, Puig remains to be in a position to revisit a few of these successful feelings with out selecting up a tennis racket or stepping on a court docket.
She turned to working marathons, the primary to enter New York Metropolisthen in Boston e London on consecutive weekends earlier this yr and is midway to his purpose of finishing all six marathons on the planet by the top of 2024.
“Each time I cross the end line of a marathon and obtain a brand new private greatest time, I get emotional, I cry,” says Puig. CNN Sports activities.
“I am amazed at what I have been doing as a result of I may simply be sitting on the sofa crying and feeling sorry for myself. However I’ve tried to channel all that vitality I’ve about what I have been feeling about my profession into one thing extra productive.”
Finishing a marathon, Puig says, feels “very comparable and really totally different” from successful a tennis match. With tennis, the stakes felt increased when rating factors, world recognition and prizes have been at stake.
![Puig traded tennis rackets for running shoes last year.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230606161928-03-monica-puig-marathon-running-tennis.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill)
However the sense of private satisfaction he will get from working has endured, serving to ease the lingering ache of his retirement from tennis.
“It is extra about proving to myself that I did not let myself fall into this large black gap of despair and unhappiness after I needed to finish my profession so early,” provides Puig.
“I used to be in a position to decide myself up and discover one thing else that motivates me to get off the bed every single day, that motivates me to remain robust, match and have enjoyable on the identical time.”
Puig reached world No. 27 and gained a WTA Tour title in 2014. Her breakthrough second got here two years later when gained Olympic gold in Rio – Puerto Rico’s first gold medal on the Video games.
As a tennis participant, Puig at all times noticed working as a type of punishment, by no means enjoyment. It turned a option to clear his head as he rehabbed from accidents, and over time he started growing the space of his runs: three miles turned 5, 5 turned eight, then eight turned half and full marathons.
Now, Puig has additionally set his sights on competing in triathlons, in addition to working the remaining marathon races in Chicago, Berlin and Tokyo. His first half Ironman — a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run — is in Augusta, Georgia, in September, and he plans to run one other spherical house in Puerto Rico subsequent yr.
![Puig competes in last year's New York City Marathon.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230606161935-04-monica-puig-marathon-running-tennis.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill)
An novice runner and triathlete, it is an abrupt transition from her life as among the best tennis gamers on the planet, though Puig believes her expertise with the latter has benefited the previous.
“You are competing towards your self,” she says of all three disciplines, “you are your largest enemy or defender. What you assume can push you or restrict you.
“In tennis, I am not going to say that my psychological energy was my energy as a result of I usually did not know how one can take care of unfavourable ideas, however I really feel like everybody matures mentally in time.
“Doing marathons and triathlons actually helped my mindset to develop and develop this can-do perspective in all the things I do. It is also due to tennis that I’ve a sure self-discipline… All that self-discipline helped me lots to remain in form and keep true to the my objectives.”
Elbow surgical procedure in 2019 adopted by three shoulder surgical procedures in three years marked the top of Puig’s tennis profession. He performed his first match since 2020 on the Madrid Open final yr, however shoulder issues continued.
There have been occasions, Puig says, that he could not sleep on the affected aspect, such was the ache in his shoulder. Additionally, the psychological toll of fixed rehab and almost 4 years away from competing commonly on tour was beginning to add up.
![Puig plays a shot at the 2019 China Open in Beijing.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230606162018-06-monica-puig-marathon-running-tennis.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill)
“I felt like I used to be pushing a rock up a mountain and the rock stored crushing me because it stored coming more durable and more durable,” says Puig.
“Clearly I believed I may come again, I believed in myself sufficient. Final yr I had each intention of taking part in competitively once more.
“However after I noticed my surgeon after the final time I used to be on the court docket, he mentioned, ‘Look, I’ve to be trustworthy with you, your shoulder, it isn’t doing effectively. And we won’t preserve opening our shoulder to repair it each time it fails.”
Not able to stroll away from tennis completely, Puig nonetheless hopes to play exhibition matches sooner or later. He returned to the coaching monitor not too long ago and needed to average the expectations of followers, who interpreted the pictures posted on social media as the beginning of a aggressive comeback.
However Puig has remained concerned within the sport as a broadcaster, permitting him to have interaction with the sport differently in comparison with his taking part in days.
“After I’m commentating or watching matches, I’ve observed that my understanding of the sport has improved lots,” she says. “I really feel that I’m smarter and that I can see issues, I can discover issues. I research the sport a lot better than after I was taking part in.
“My understanding of tennis has grown and I would wish to preserve taking part in so I can implement a number of the issues I see and have that information translate into what I do on the court docket.”
![Puig became Puerto Rico's first Olympic gold medalist at the 2016 Rio Games.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230606161941-05-monica-puig-marathon-running-tennis.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill)
Puig provides that he nonetheless misses tennis, particularly when he sees his contemporaries thrive within the Grand Slams.
As a result of her shoulder won’t ever be the best way it was earlier than the surgical procedures, she has come to just accept her physique’s limitations and is perfecting her swimming method to resist the trials of Ironman distance triathlons.
“I’ve discovered to deal with my shoulder differently and figuring out that if there’s ache, then it is okay to cease, it is okay to take a break, it is okay to say you are not feeling 100%,” he says. Puig.
“Normally after I was attempting to return again final yr, I used to be taking part in in ache and that wasn’t essentially one thing I felt nice about. It was very difficult and concerned a variety of tears.”
What he has developed over the previous yr is “a brand new life” and “a brand new manner of doing issues.”
“I need to proceed doing this for the remainder of my life; I see individuals effectively into their fifties and sixties, nonetheless doing triathlons and doing Ironmans,” says Puig.
“That is one thing I need to preserve doing… I do not understand how far I am going to go or something, however the sky is the restrict.”