For the first time in his professional career, J.J. Wolf spent last summer away from the Cincinnati Open.
"I didn't watch a second of tennis," Wolf told The Enquirer. "It was too hard for me to watch last year."
Wolf, a Cincinnati Country Day product who has played in his hometown tournament seven times, had his tennis career put on hold. A serious shoulder injury suffered at the Delray Beach Open in February 2025 ultimately required surgery to repair a torn labrum. He missed an entire year of competition, returning this February unranked after climbing as high as No. 39 in theATP Rankings in 2023.
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"You have a lot of conversations in the mirror," Wolf said about the year-long rehab process. "My team and my family. That was really the one thing that got me through. My coaches, physio(therapist) and the Wolfpack. They had to dig me out of the darkness a couple of times and keep my head pointed in the right direction."
There were days when simply sleeping the wrong way had Wolf questioning if a return to professional tennis was realistic.
"I would roll over and accidentally sleep on my shoulder, and I couldn't get out of bed the next day," Wolf said. "I'm sitting there thinking, 'how am I gonna play Grand Slam matches again?' "
About five months into his comeback, Wolf is starting to find an answer while grinding it in lower-level ITF and ATP Challenger tournaments far removed the sport's biggest stages.
In his first event back in February, Wolf won an ITF M15 event in Naples, Florida. In June, he won another when he claimed three consecutive three-set victories on his way to an M25 tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In his last outing, Wolf won an ATP Challenger in Vancouver.
Overall, Wolf has played in 10 events, and his wins have vaulted him up the rankings. He cracked the top 300 (No. 282) after his Vancouver triumph after sitting at No. 926 in June. Wolf found value in that experience far beyond the rankings boost.
"The longevity of being able to play full weeks meant the most to me," he said.
Vancouver provided an especially meaningful moment as Wolf put together five wins over a four-day span while seeing his patented powerful serve reach 140 miles-per-hour once again alongside his coach, Justin Baker, who he's known since childhood.
"It was two Cincinnati boys up in Vancouver playing tennis," Wolf said. "It felt simple and it felt right. We kept it fun."
During that tournament, Wolf lost just two sets and finally felt like himself again as he focused on the tennis and not his surgically repaired shoulder. The 27-year-old will carry that feeling into Mason this week, where he received a qualifying wild card to the Cincinnati Open.
Wolf will have to win a pair of qualifying matches to earn a spot in the main draw, the same route he took in 2020 when the tournament was held in New York during the pandemic. Wolf has never won a main draw match in the Cincinnati Open, falling in the first round three times (2020 2022, 2023). He'll open qualifying on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
This time around, the results feel secondary as Wolf doesn't want to measure his comeback by what happens this week. His long-term goal is trying to climb back to the top 40 player he was before.
"I don't think I'm gonna get to 40 in the world this week, but if I can keep making that my goal, that's a win for me this week," Wolf said.
Wolf arrived at the tournament this week and saw the dramatically renovated venue for the first time. He had stayed away last summer, unable to watch. He'll take his next step on the comeback trail in front of the local fans who watched him become a professional.
"I hope they know deep down I'm a kid from Cincinnati," Wolf said. "I love it here. I have that good blue-collar working mentality that everyone has here. We're all in it together."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: The comeback trail leads CCD product J.J. Wolf home to Cincinnati Open
