Kelly Slater Says Hip Not 100% After Surgery: ‘I Shouldn’t Even Be in the Water.’ (Video)

Forever a favorite at Pipeline – or, really, any stop on the World Surf League’s Championship Tour, for that matter – Kelly Slater lost early in the Lexus Pipe Pro.

On Tuesday, following massive surf on Monday in which the WSL controversially decided not to run the contest to the dismay of surfers and surf fans, Slater matched up against last year’s world number two, Ethan Ewing, in small, lackluster waves.

He lost the Round of 32 heat. With eight victories at Pipeline over the course of his career, equating to a 26.6% event win percentage, he put up an uncharacteristically low heat total of 4.27. Was it the waves? Or was it the hip surgery Slater had back in September of 2023? Probably a bit of both.

Following the heat, Slater caught up with the WSL to talk about his hip recovery:

“I’m not really thinking about it. I got to figure out if this hip’s good enough to compete in waves that I’ve got to [do] turn[s] and stuff.

“We’ll see. About eight, 10 days ago, I had a surf and it felt absolutely terrible. I thought, ‘I shouldn’t even be in the water.’ Then I stayed out of the water for about four or five days. I got some work on it. And then I surfed, and it felt okay. It hasn’t given me trouble since then.

“But, you know, [at Pipeline] we’re not doing turns. We’re just getting barreled and going straight. The couple turns I’ve done I’ve felt okay. I’m definitely on the mend.”

And regarding the loss at Pipe:

“I was really looking forward to this event. I think that swell yesterday was a bummer. It kinda showed up too late, and ended too early. Had it arrived 10 hours earlier or later…I thought there were going to be enough remnants for it to be good. This north swell has been hanging around, and it’s really kind of blocked us a little bit.

“Yeah, tough one. I do hate those strategic heats. I do love a shootout. I don’t mind losing at all when you’re both getting waves, and you both have opportunity. But I was just trying to scrap and make something happen.”

Will Slater’s hip hold up in waves that demand turns? We’ll see. The Hurley Pro Sunset Beach kicks off February 12th. (That's the day after Slater's 52nd birthday, FYI.)

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