This year’s been rather an anomaly in the world of professional surfing. The majority of last year’s top seeds are sitting uncharacteristically low in the rankings, while the low seeds and wildcards have taken over the reins. Yesterday at the Fiji Pro, however, the veterans, including Kelly, got the sweet taste of retribution, making many believe this could be the beginning of Kelly Slater’s comeback. His recent interview with SurfTotalTV only seems to reaffirm that belief.
“I feel like I’ve been a little out of sync with the ocean,” admitted Kelly. “I’ve been making some funny decisions, but I want to win the event. I want to win every heat I surf.”
It’s true, Kelly hasn’t been Kelly lately. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that. With all the crazy things orbiting his existence, his priorities seemed to have (understandably) shifted a bit. But as the loony public begins to reach normal vitals, Kelly can now return to doing what he does best: kicking ass.
“I want to put up high scores and get some great waves and get myself back on a roll,” continued Kelly. “I feel like I’m getting things back in order. I wanna kick people’s butts.”
The 11-time world champ will go up against Jordy Smith, who is no slouch at Cloudbreak, in round three. Will Kelly return to the beast of a competitor we all know he is? Or will he let his losing streak get the better of him? I like to side with the former. It appears as though Kelly’s in a good head space at the moment. He looked sharp in round one. His competitive fire is burning at bit brighter than it has been in recent months and he seems focused. Additionally, getting a great result at Fiji requires a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge of the wave, both of which Kelly has a ton of.
