Here's how it all started for me.

First off, introduction. I'm 17 years old, male, live in Italy. I've been playing tennis since I can remember, which I love but it's what's caused all this big hassle!

 Everything started in Dec. 2006. I was getting ready for some very important tournaments I had, I was spending 2 hours on court and 2 in the gym every day, and I must admit I was really pushing my body to the limit, which in retrospect I was pretty stupid for doing! Anyways, I started feeling little twinges in my shoulder, thought it was just normal. Took some anti-inflamatories and just kept playing.

Feb 2007: Went to a physiotherapist, who said I had a shoulder impingement. Got an ultrasound done, everything seemed fine except some calcifications (?) on one of my tendons. Psyio said I could play again after a month of physiotherapy.

March 2007: I was able to start playing again pain-free for about 2 weeks, when the pain started kicking in again, stronger than before, so I stopped again.

April 2007: Saw an ortho in my town, who suspected a SLAP tear. He told me to get a normal MRI (non-arthro) which of course didn't show anything. This doctor then disappeared for some reason, and I was never able to get in contact with him again :P

August 2007: Managed to get an appointment with a surgeon who people told me was one of the best in Europe. He did the famous O'brien test and confirmed the SLAP diagnosis, although he ordered an MRI Arthro just to be sure. He said I'd have to do physio for 2 months, if that didn't work we could schedule surgery.

October 2007: Finally managed to get an arthro MRI, which confirmed the SLAP tear.