The 27-year-old Spaniard took time to reflect on his purpose as he rehabbed from a back injury this summer. Now he’s back in fine fettle.
Chris OddoOctober 15, 20262 minute read
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina has a message for the tennis world: He wants to show everyone exactly who he is as a player.
After spending two months on the sidelines with a back injury, the 27-year-old Spaniard has returned with renewed purpose, and he’s letting his tennis do the talking.
“I was thinking a lot about it with my wife and with my team, to see if I have 10 more years in my career, what I want to show to myself and what I want to show to the other ones,” Davidovich Fokina said in Shanghai after moving into his fourth career Masters semifinal when France’s Arthur Gea was forced to retire due to injury in the first set.
“Now I want to express myself, how I want to play, who I want to show to the world who I am.”
The Spaniard has certainly made a statement in 2026, capturing his maiden ATP title on the grass in Mallorca before adding a second on the hard courts of Chengdu three weeks ago.
In the process, he finally snapped an agonizing 0-5 record in ATP finals, a burden he had carried like a bag of bricks after a series of heartbreaking defeats.
He’s also demonstrated newfound composure under pressure in Shanghai, winning consecutive deciding-set tiebreaks against Frances Tiafoe, saving a match point, and former champion Hubert Hurkacz.
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Now Davidovich Fokina faces Alexander Zverev in the semifinals, seeking his second Masters 1000 final and first on hard courts.
It won’t be easy. The Spaniard is 1-6 against Zverev and has lost their last three meetings and the German has hit another level in 2026, winning his first two major titles and already securing the year-end No.1 ranking.
But after missing the North American summer swing with a back injury that nearly became a herniated disc, Davidovich Fokina is simply grateful for another opportunity.
“Mentally it was very tough,” he admitted, recalling the frustration of watching other players compete while he recovered at home.
It was not an easy time physically, either.
“I did MRI and everything, and so I have a protrusion, almost hernia, so I take a little bit. After I play Umag, didn’t go well for my back. After that we decide to stop, to recover,” he said. “I thought I was going to play Cincinnati and US Open, but my body… I took off three weeks without tennis, without just doing core, abdominals, as I said, for the back.”
Now healthy again, he’s determined to finish his breakout 2026 season with another statement.
