• Basketball Ricky Rubio leaves the concentration of the selection and stops his career to "treat his mental health"
  • Reactions "We are all with you": Pau Gasol, Willy Hernangómez, Llull and other players show their support for Ricky Rubio

On Monday everything fell apart at once. Ricky Rubio went to talk to Sergio Scariolo and told him something that the coach did not suspect: "I'm not well, I don't see myself capable." A short time later, he was traveling to his home in El Masnou, where he made the decision not to return, at least this summer.

Until that day, the base and star of the selection, MVP of the last World Cup whose title Spain defends since the 25th of this month, had not given any symptoms that something was wrong. He joined the concentration with a smile, participated without any problem in training, photo sessions and publicity and protocol events, physically he was perfect and seemed happy to have left behind a complicated season in Cleveland.

However, this Saturday a statement from the player, through the Federation, ended a week in which everything got worse very quickly: "I have decided to stop my professional activity to take care of my mental health. I want to thank all the support I have received from the FEB to understand my decision. Today La Familia makes more sense than ever. Thank you."

"I wanted to be here!", he repeated, as explained from the team's concentration, after a course in the NBA that started late due to the recovery of the serious knee injury suffered in the 21-22 and that ended with Ricky out of the rotation of the Cavs.

From his environment they point out that those months were very hard for him, who lost part of the illusion that has always pushed a career full of obstacles and could be the origin of the current situation, but nothing indicated it until Monday. Ricky arrived with a full suitcase and planned with the FEB various commitments for the next month and a half. He was convinced that the always special atmosphere of the selection, that Family that surrounds him so much, would make him forget everything bad. Unfortunately, something broke suddenly between Sunday and Monday.

Once he communicated his mood to the coach and the president, Jorge Garbajosa, they showed their support and granted him a leave without marked dates to be absent from the concentration in Madrid and take some time at his Barcelona home and see if he was better. Given the sensitivity of the problem, they decided not to make it public, although the team's training sessions are open door and since Tuesday the star was not there. Surprisingly, the news did not transcend and allowed those involved to gain time to wait for Ricky's evolution. It didn't matter.

Although at first everyone was confident that he would return, as the hours passed and the conversations between player, coach and leader, pessimism began to spread in the selection. Scariolo urgently summoned Juan Núñez, the young base of Ulm, and walked the corridors of the Meliá Castilla hotel as if a black cloud were constantly flying over him.

In strictly sports, the loss of Rubio, who with 32 years and 157 games with Spain was the great reference of the team (top scorer of the Tokyo 2021 Games with 25.5 points per game), is a tremendous blow that was confirmed on Thursday. That day, Ricky called Scariolo from El Masnou and told him that, definitely, he would not return to play the World Cup. Although there was no turning back, it was decided to delay the official announcement by 48 hours so as not to cloud the first friendly against Venezuela, on Friday in Madrid. As many of the veterans rested, no one wondered where Ricky was even though he was the only one absent who did not sit next to WiZink's bench. Unfortunately, it was already many kilometers away.

No one in the player's environment dares to venture what the future holds beyond this championship. "It can be a month, six, leave it ...", they point out, although almost nobody believes that Ricky will not play again. It is not the first time that the fabulous Catalan point guard speaks openly about his mental health. After the death of his mother, in 2016, he suffered a long depression and since then he has emerged as one of the sports stars most committed to the fight to normalize, care for and face these diseases. Now it's his turn again. He has already won before.

  • Basketball World Cup
  • Ricky Rubio
  • Articles Iñako Díaz-Guerra

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