Unable to participate in the 2012 London Olympics after suffering a brutal knee injury back in the spring, Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio continues to rehab as hard as ever back in his home country of Spain in preparation for his sophomore campaign.
Though the timetable for his return remains hazy as most knee injuries are specific to each individual, Rubio told Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski that he hopes to pump up the pace of his physical activity over the next two months. "I hope by September I can start running again," Rubio said.
As far as watching both his teammates and friends take the court for various countries at this year's Olympics, the talented young point guard has struggled to come to grips with his role as nothing more than a spectator. "I felt like somebody was going to have to come grab me, because I'm going to jump out there at any time and try to play," Rubio said.
Even so, it's clear that an injury as debiliating as an ACL tear can have a drastic mental effect on any athlete, which is why it appears so vital that Rubio may have already jumped over that specific hurdle. "In my mind, there's a goal," Rubio said, "and the goal is recovering 100 percent and making sure I'm never going to get hurt again in that knee."
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