“I really thrived under pressure for a lot of years and now I’m not enjoying that as much.” This is how Kelly Slater describes back to back early exits coming out of Snapper and this week’s Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach. And even though the man did just record a win at the Volcom Pipe Pro less than two months ago, he’s still explaining the current Oz competitive funk as “kind of a long-term slump right now.”
In an ESPN article following Slater’s Rip Curl Pro exit, the unfavorable ‘CT results inevitably led to asking whether or not Kelly is considering retirement – a topic we’re going to see and hear a lot of with every heat loss and contest win alike from now on.
“I’ve been thinking about it for 15 years,” he responds, before admitting that even his mom texted recently to say “maybe you should think about it.”
“I don’t feel like I’ve been surfing that confidently or offensively,” he explained in a post heat interview with Peter Mel. “So I just haven’t been surfing with that confidence that you need to have and feel like it’s yours to take. I’ve gone through this feeling before, but not for as long as I have lately.”
Whether or not the man is referring to the 2nd and 3rd round exits to start off this season, or the last few years overall, wasn’t clarified. To be exact, while Kelly’s done well at the Volcom Pipe Pro in recent years his last win on the ‘CT goes as far back as 2013. Coincidentally, that came at the Billabong Pipe Masters but left Slater just 250 points shy of a 12th world title. Since then we’ve seen him compete in just one final (2014) and collect a handful of 3rd place finishes (one in 2015, three in 2014).
But then again, this idea of a slump is relative to Kelly Slater here. Less than a dozen men have recorded even one ‘CT win in that same span, with Mick Fanning snagging about a quarter of the top finishes himself. Add in Gabriel Medina and you’ve covered about 40% of the total wins on tour since Kelly last notched a W. By that metric at least 50% of the top 34 are “slumping” worse than the King. But hey, if the man thinks he’s in a slump, I highly doubt any WSL fan will be disappointed to see the results that pull him out of it.
