Waking to an unfamiliar world after 11 years in a coma must be a terrifying experience.
That is exactly what happened to Jesus Aparicio, from Spain, who was left critically injured after a car crash when celebrating his 18th birthday in December 2004.
As he tried to make sense of the many changes that had happened since his accident, Aparicio – a huge tennis fan – was pleased to hear that one constant remained.
An admirer of Roger Federer before falling into the coma, Aparicio wanted to learn what had become of the Swiss tennis star.
“It came like a flash to my mind and I asked about Roger,” he told tennnisworldusa.org.
“I thought he had retired. When I knew that at 34 years old, he is still playing and is number two the world, I thought they were kidding me,” he explained.
Of all the players in the ATP top 10 rankings at the time of Aparicio’s accident, Leyton Hewitt is the only other man still competing.
Clearly, the Seville native was astounded at what Federer has gone on to achieve in his career.
“I could not believe it. When I heard that he reached 17 slam titles, I put my hands on my face,” he continued.
At the time of his accident, Aparicio had been saving money so that he could see Federer in action at Wimbledon. With the record-breaking Swiss now in the twilight of his career, his dream is to watch him in action before he calls it a day.
“I want to see his match before he retires, perhaps his 18th slam,” Aparicio added.
