Niland in New York state of mind

A year ago, on a hot Tuesday afternoon in Flushing Meadows, Queens, two tennis players were embarking on dramatically divergent paths after the best summer of their careers.

It was towards the end of the second set. Limerick’s Conor Niland was visibly struggling and, in spite of a shoulder injury that had hampered his preparations, Novak Djokovic was in cruise control.

It was the biggest match of the Irishman’s life and, wouldn’t you know it, he had food poisoning.

“I just went straight to him at the net and told him I couldn’t go on,” recalled Niland this week.

“He said ‘I hope you recover well’. He mentioned something in the press conference about it and then I didn’t see him again until January at the Australian Open. I walked into the changing rooms. He looked up and saw me and gave me a big smile and asked how I was.”

What nobody outside of Niland’s immediate family knew then and throughout his last winter as a professional was that the pain in his hips was becoming unbearable.

After the highs of qualification through to the first round proper of both Wimbledon and the US Open — thrilling breakthroughs and well-earned rewards for those years of hard slog on the ATP Tour — Niland was turning 30 and his body was giving up. A long winter of soul searching culminated at a Davis Cup match in Egypt in April. Sherif Sabry was the opponent and Niland dominated the first set. But then the pain set in, the inability to go beyond an hour of hard training during that whole time was taking its toll once again. Sabry scooped up three quick sets and just like that, it was over. A decade during which he had flirted with breaching the top 100 in the world — it was all over.

“My hips just seized up on me and I knew that it had got to point where I couldn’t do myself justice out there anymore.

“In tennis, it’s hard enough to be successful when you’re playing matches at full tilt or training at full tilt, but at 60-70%, it’s just impossible.

“It was not really worth my time anymore,” he adds poignantly before agreeing that when the decision was finally made, after many discussions with his family, it was almost a relief.

“I was able to tell people why I had been struggling, why I’d had such a tough year even though I’d qualified for Wimbledon and the US Open. So yeah, it was a little bit of release for me. You’re so focused on getting better and fitter for so long and then it all stops — there’s definitely a feeling of pressure being lifted immediately.”

Last summer, should have been a sign of things to come but instead it now serves as a memorable final chapter. On balance, Niland has managed to look at it positively.

“I’m delighted it happened. It could so easily not have happened and I would have been defined by my ranking. Maybe I would never have got the level of recognition that I did. I played two grand slams and that’s something I’ll always have and something I’ll be able to give to people as a context for the standard I played at.

“I was so happy that I got those experiences even though they were both bittersweet. At Wimbledon, I should have won that match [against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino] and gone on to play Federer and then not being even 50% against Djokovic after the food poisoning… it was disappointing not to go all out against him but I’m delighted that I had the chance to play in both tournaments.”

When Wimbledon came around again this summer, he found himself being asked if it stirred up any feelings for him, coming so soon as it did after his leaving the sport. As it turns out, August at Arthur Ashe has resonated deeper.

“I feel a lot more emotional around this time of year than I did in June. I’m not sure why but maybe because it was the last one.

“It was a great week. I really love New York. I had an amazing time and was playing good tennis. I won the first two matches pretty comfortably and then lost the first set in the third qualifying round and just dug deep to get through it.

“It was a great atmosphere, late afternoon, early evening, big crowd, everything. And then to qualify, a brilliant moment. That, for sure, was the highlight of my career.”

When he retired, he went straight into coaching although it would have been tempting to break all ties.

“The fact that I’m staying in tennis made the adjustment easier. I wasn’t putting on a suit and getting up at 7.30am to go into an office. I was back in a very similar environment in DCU where I’d been training for the last couple of years. I was with the same people as before, I just wasn’t doing all that travelling. So that made the transition that bit easier.

“It’s been nice to be at home and have a base. Part of me wanted a complete break. It’s my passion, it’s what I know best. It’d be silly to turn my back on it completely. And it’s good I can switch off from it when I want to. Playing and coaching is different but playing at the highest level gives you an edge for coaching.

“I don’t define people by skill levels. Coaching a beginner can be just as interesting as coaching an elite player. You can figure out technical problems with a beginner’s game and rectify it straight away whereas it takes a lot longer with an experienced player. It’s rewarding in all sorts of different ways.”

* Contact [e-mail] for more information about Conor Niland’s coaching availability.