After having to watch from the sidelines as the team he was supposed to be leading played on without him for the past several months, junior Haythem Abid may finally have the chance to join the UCLA men’s tennis team on the courts.

Abid sustained a serious wrist injury in the weeks leading up to the season and was unable to recuperate in time for the regular season.

Come the NCAA Championships, however, UCLA coach Billy Martin will have the chance to bring Abid back into the lineup after weighing the costs and benefits.

“If he feels he’s ready and if I feel he’s ready, he’s eligible to play, but that’ll be a match-to-match decision and one that I can’t really say I’m looking forward to making,” Martin said.

“It gives us a great option if we need him to possibly help us, but the drawback is he loses an entire year of eligibility.”

Just two weeks ago, it appeared as though Abid would sit out the rest of the season and help his teammates as a coach during matches.

Abid has been coaching since undergraduate assistant coach Philipp Gruendler graduated following winter quarter.

But Abid, a junior from Tunisia, was determined to get back into shape and take the court again with racket in hand.

“He’s worked really hard these past two weeks to get back into shape to show his teammates that he’s certainly willing to go out there and battle for (them), if that’s what I choose to do,” Martin said.

Abid has also continued to undergo rehabilitation for his injured left wrist and no longer has the pains in his left shoulder that he did at the beginning of the recovery process.

However, he is still far from being 100 percent, so Martin, who had to submit his postseason roster last Monday, put the junior at the No. 4 position to be safe.

“Right now I’m probably at around 70 percent,” Abid said.

“It gets better every day, and with the pressure of matches, you can always play better than during practice.”

If Martin decides that playing Abid would be in the best interest of his team, he will not have to worry about a lack of experience.

Abid has already been to the NCAA Championships twice in his UCLA career.

But at the same time, Martin knows that he can’t get too caught up in the moment and lose one of his top players for an entire season with only the justification of one postseason run.

And although Abid understands the reasoning behind his coach’s troubling decision, he is having trouble not getting caught up in the moment, as he is eager to take to the court and join his teammates as a contributing player, rather than just a spectator or coach.

“I thought about (not being able to play two years from now) a little bit, but playing with these guys, there’s no price to put on that,” Abid said. “For now, I don’t think there will be a loss if I play this year, but we have to think about it and see how everyone else is playing, because it’s not only my decision.”

For now, though, Abid will continue to practice with the team and strengthen his wrist and wait on Martin’s final decision, which probably won’t come this weekend when the Bruins open up first- and second-round play at home at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.

Even if he doesn’t get the chance to play, Abid said he feels lucky and happy to be able to pick up a tennis racket and step on the court after such a long time away from the sport.

Meanwhile, his teammates will have to focus on the task at hand and approach the NCAA Championships with the same outlook they had for each match during the regular season.

“He’s a very, very good player, and he has a lot of experience, so it would be a very big asset for us, but regardless of whether he comes back, though, we’re all going to have to be prepared to play well,” senior captain Jeremy Drean said.