ATP Tour

Healing Harris: From 'absolutely no quality of life' to Wimbledon redemption

While doing a light mobility exercise last July, Lloyd Harris felt a sharp, shooting pain that started in his back and radiated down to his feet. In an instant, the South African’s back seized up. Harris was unable to move as the immense pain took hold.

The 28-year-old’s freak injury happened while he was in Atlanta gearing up for the North American hard-court swing, a part of the season in which he had typically performed well.

“I was just on the ground and I couldn’t get up from there, couldn’t move,” Harris recently told ATPTour.com. “The physio could literally not get me to move."

It was during that hard-court swing in 2021 when Harris beat Rafael Nadal in Washington D.C., reached the US Open quarter-finals and hit a career-high No. 31. But Harris’ time in the United States last year will be remembered for a very different — and far less enjoyable — reason. What was supposed to be an easy mobility session turned into the beginning of a long and painful setback.

Harris was stuck in bed for days, unable to do an MRI scan because he could not lie still on his back for 30 minutes. “It was impossible,” he added. In fact, Harris stayed in Atlanta for two weeks, waiting until he was physically able to fly home.

Harris suffered a disc herniation at the L4/L5 spinal segment (lower back), eventually requiring discectomy surgery — an operation that removed part of his spinal disc. Initially, the Cape Town native hoped that with a conservative approach to training, the issue would resolve itself. But a piece of his spinal disc slipped into the wrong spot again and Harris was back in the same pain he felt in the Atlanta gym.

“I couldn’t sit, couldn’t lie down, couldn’t walk, couldn’t do anything. No life,” Harris said. “Absolutely no quality of life.”

Left with no other option, Harris opted for surgery in October. This, unfortunately, was not the first surgical setback of his career. Harris underwent major right wrist surgery in June 2022.

How does back surgery and recovery compare to what he endured with his wrist?

“Back surgery is tough because I’ll tell you what — you can’t use your legs, you can’t use your upper body. You can’t do anything,” Harris said. “This surgery, I was in no shape, I had no condition when coming back, still in a lot of pain when I had to start moving and getting things going again. That was tough.

“As hard as [the wrist surgery] was and how tedious the wrist is, at least I was in great shape. I was able to move and be active physically. Okay, I couldn’t do anything upper body, but damn, I was fit. So that made things a lot easier in that perspective.”

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Harris did not compete after Wimbledon in the 2024 season. In the weeks prior to the grass-court major, Harris won the Surbiton Challenger to return to the Top 100 for the first time in 21 months, proving he was coming into form. Harris followed that by qualifying for Wimbledon and winning a five-setter against Alex Michelsen in the first round. Harris then played another five-set battle, falling to 14th seed Ben Shelton.

A year on and Harris will again meet the 14th-seeded player in the second round of Wimbledon, this time it is Andrey Rublev.

Harris made a step in the right direction at Roland Garros, where as the No. 227 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, he advanced through qualifying and fell to none other than Rublev. Five weeks on from that defeat, Harris will get another crack at the 27-year-old. Rublev leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head series 3-0, including a 2021 victory at Wimbledon.

Harris’ return to action post-surgery first came in February, after a seven-month layoff. It was not easy. He began on the ATP Challenger Tour and lost his first seven of eight matches, including two retirements, across all levels. It was not until Roland Garros qualifying that Harris won consecutive matches.

Rebuilding his game is only part of Harris’ battle. He is “getting used to the new body and what works, what doesn’t work”. Cold weather can trigger pain in his back. When it comes to forehands and backhands, Harris is not comparing his current game to how he played before.

“If I think I’m the player I was before, that’s not true. Unfortunately, you’ve got new challenges, new things. It’s a new process,” Harris said. “You have to deal with it as a player that is coming back, starting your career all over again.”

Since competing at the All England Club last year, Harris has experienced a series of frustration, doubt and heartbreak due to the injury. But on Wednesday, he will once again play on one of the sport’s biggest stages, a hard-earned reward after a difficult journey.

“It’s not easy but in the end, it’s a process and you try to make it as fun as you can," Harris said. "When you’re back and you’re healthy and you’re playing good matches, winning matches, it’s all worth it in the end, 100 per cent.”