Ricky Rubioprotagonist in the program 'Lo de Évole' issued this Sunday by La Sexta, has offered an introspective look on its relationship with sport, marked by a career that began at an unusually early age and has been marked by both round successes and personal challenges.
Asked for their current situation and the possibilities of return, Ricky He has not revealed any decision but it seems that he may be close: “I would like to play basketball without everything else, but it is impossible … and without being Ricky Rubio. I am squeezing the maximum to see if I really can. The answer is clearer every day.”
That “everything else” is defined by self -examination, the mental health problems that forced him to stop his professional career before arrival in Barça and a way of seeing life marked largely by his early debut as a professional.
Recently the player has explored a different facet of basketball, participating in playful leagues. “I played in a league, a game a week, League to have fun,” he said, admitting to having missed the game during this year, but with a condition: “I like to play it with nothing outside.” This new perspective contrasts with the load I felt before, where the “character” prevailed over the player, preventing him from being “one more of the team.”
This search for pure enjoyment, stripped of the professional environment, is a conscious learning. “I seek to enjoy the basketball without it around him,” he says, recognizing that there was a point in his career in which “I did not have fun”, although he initially “fell in love with the feeling of being in a team” and the possibility of “seeing beyond” and exploiting his instinct.
His leap to professionalism with just 14 years with him Youth It was a turning point in which it also sees factors that influenced: “I was not aware and thought that I could with everything,” he explains about that moment, admitting with the current perspective that “it is difficult to enter that team so early” and that “I did not have to be” there at that stage of its development.
The professional costume also revealed a duality. He was fortunate to find valuable partners like Marcelinho Huertaswhom he describes as “of the best companions I have had.” However, he also witnessed “La Jungla”, an environment where some “have a dark side and that if I have to succeed and step on to do it, I will do it,” evidencing the relentless competitiveness.
Rubio He has underlined the impact of media exposure on very young players. “It sells a lot of headlines but in the end there is a person behind, that the brain does not have it developed,” he says, arguing that a 18 -year -old “would not have to be in that focus, he is not prepared to live in that cannibal world” and that “some bases in the beginning to be able to support that” are required.
Difficult experiences accumulated. Vividly remember World of 2010where Space It fell in the quarterfinals. With 19 years and as a titular base, the defeat impacted him deeply. “We lose the quarterfinals for a triple theodosic and at that time I do not want to talk to anyone but it collapses and the blame begins. I am a failed,” he says, describing how he locked up “in the sink to cry alone”, convinced to have “sunk to Space because of me. ”
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Even in times of maximum success, such as World of 2019 Where it was MVPdisconnection persisted. Despite considering it “of the greatest successes” and an “incredible experience in terms of team”, Rubio He confesses: “I didn't feel MVP. When I received the prize I felt a fake, I thought I hadn't deserved it.”
Victory was not enough; The pressure to “follow” and the feeling of living it “from suffering” were constant. I thought “that at any time they were going to take away 'the powers'”, which led him to want to “have everything controlled”, revealing the intense mental burden that accompanied his brilliant professional career.
The serious knee injury suffered with Cleveland In 2021 it also ended up being a traumatic experience: “I leave my leg and I don't accept it. How can this happen to me? I thought at that time,” he recalls. “I didn't even want to take the phone because I knew I had broken me. My first reaction is' this has not happened to me but they are going to shit because I will become stronger. World But I see that something is not going well. I dream very dark things, I stumble just go to the court. My head was thus impossible. I asked for help and with my physical and physiotherapist trainer, I tell you how I am. My wife comes to see me and told her that she has to help me make her suitcases. ”
That personal discomfort led him to a very dark area and to ask for psychological help. “One of the nights that was at the hotel I thought I didn't want to continue, but not with basketball but with life. For a second. I knew it was not me but I can understand many people who have taken their lives … there is a time when everything weighs you so much …”
