By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After skipping the 2019 FIBA World Cup for resting reasons, Olimpia Milano guard Sergio Rodriguez is committed to returning to the Spanish national team in the next available opportunity: The Tokyo Olympics.
“I’ve always said that I’m available for the national team,” Rodriguez said in a video interview for the Twitter of the Spanish national team. “Last year was a difficult time, both personally and in sports and I believed that the best thing for the team and for me was that I wouldn’t be there.”
In 2019, Rodriguez was coming off a long and highly successful season that included winning the EuroLeague championship with CSKA Moscow. “The [national] team did very well and I was able to rest and stop. When you enter the professional routine, it’s very difficult to know the moment when you have to catch your breath. It helped me to face the season in the best possible way, but whenever possible, I’ll want to be with the national team.”
Rodriguez watched his teammates win the basketball world championship in China for the second time in history, after 2006 when he was present. While he celebrated their triumph, he also struggled a bit with not being with them.
“I both suffered and enjoyed it. I experienced the one of 2006 from the inside and seeing 2019 from the outside was also very nice. I saw how the team recovered from a bad start, we started to compete and we did it better than any other. Seeing the team enjoy it and winning another World Cup was amazing.”