Pro-shuttler Jacco Arends suffers ruptured meniscus during NBL match in England

Jij het nieuws, wij een tikkie!

Immediately I knew it was bad. I tried to play a few rallies after that, but it felt as if I turned into a freshly born Bambi. My knee was very unstable and wobbly.

The morning after that I was supposed to go to Denmark, for three matches with my Danish club Vendsyssel Elite Badminton. I was so excited about that, we had a lot of nice things planned with the team. Unfortunately, I had to rebook my tickets to see my doctor and get an MRI.

The results show that I have a ruptured meniscus. This means I need surgery to hopefully fix everything. They couldn't say exactly how long the rehab is going to take, they will be able to judge that during the surgery. It could be anything between 6 weeks and 3 months.

I find it very surprising how quickly I've accepted all of this. The life of an athlete is all about adapting and overcoming the challenges you face, that's exactly what I will do. I will finish my master’s degree in one year, instead of the one and a half I planned on. Also I'm going to hit the gym hard and work my upper body. So don't feel sorry for me!

Take care,
Jacco