Back troubled Anett Kontaveit cautiously optimistic after victory in the opening round
It's a cross with a cross: Anett Kontaveit , a year ago number 2 in the tennis world and recently badly plagued, is hoping for improvement. Things have started well in Rome.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit:
May 10, 2023, 08:54 pm
"I'm glad that everything held up. The match only lasted an hour, that certainly helped," said Kontaveit after her 6-1, 6-1 win over Alycia Parks in Rome.
Background: Kontaveit has been plagued with back pain for months and has slipped from her career high of 2nd place in the WTA ranking (still in September 2022) to 82nd place due to long breaks. Degenerative changes in the intervertebral discs in the lumbar spine and irritation due to a previous injury to the left thigh - that was the diagnosis for the 27-year-old, who is slowly looking to get back into the tour life.
She's been doing exercises for months, "boring stuff, a lot for the back," Kontaveit told the WTA . "Now I'm extremely excited to be able to play again and have some fun."
Kontavait seeks balance
She had her first major test at the Billie Jean King Cup after a long training session in Spain - and felt her back again.
"It's difficult to find that healthy balance - between pushing yourself and worrying about getting injured again and holding back. Then you go to a tournament and you feel like you haven't trained enough or not trained hard enough. Exactly that happened in Madrid." She felt exhausted in the middle of the match, then trained hard in Marbella without holding back because of her back. "So far, so good - so far I haven't felt my back," said Kontaveit in Rome.
According to Kontaveit, she has not yet made any decisions for the future; she doesn't want to tackle the next tasks with a thirst for joy, nor with a sad heart. "It was just one match now. Let's see how it looks when I have a few of those."
Kontaveit meets Liudmila Samsonova in the second round.