Looking ahead to the second stop at Sunset from February 12-22, Kelly told the WSL after losing to Ethan Ewing at the Pipe Pro: “I have to figure out if this hip is in a condition to compete with, doing maneuvers and things like that. We’ll see.”

“About eight to 10 days ago I surfed and I felt absolutely horrible, I thought I shouldn’t even be in the water, so I stayed out for about four or five days, worked on it and surfed and it felt OK. And I haven’t had any issues since,” he added. “But we’re not doing any maneuvers, we’re just barreling and going straight. But some of the maneuvers I’ve done I’ve felt good… I’m definitely in need.”

Referring to the decision not to hold the championship the day before, he explained: “I was really excited about this event. It was a shame about the swell yesterday because it came so late and ended so early. If it had come 10 hours earlier or later it would have been… I thought today was going to be good enough, but this swell from the north stayed and blocked us.”

Regarding his heat, in which he lost to Ewing, he said: “I hate those strategic series, I love shootouts, I don’t care at all about losing when everyone has waves and there are opportunities but I was trying to drag myself along and make something happen.”

Slater turns 52 on Sunday, the greatest surfer in history, with 11 world championship titles and 56 tour victories.