After a six-month absence, Svetlana Kuznetsova’s coach is confident that she is ready to return to action in Indian Wells.
The former world No.2 hasn’t played a competitive match since her first round exit at the China Open last October. Her absence has been due to a left wrist injury, which required surgery towards the end of 2017. In January she was forced to pull out of the Australian Open. Ending her run of 16 consecutive appearances in the Melbourne major. Kuznetsova has only missed five out of 64 grand slam main draws since 2002.
Now on the comeback trail at the age of 32, Kuznetsova’s coach is confident that she is on the right path. Carlos Martinez has been a member of the Russian’s team since 2012. Under his guidance, Kuznetsova has claimed four WTA titles and broke back into the top 10 in 2016 after a six-year absence.
Looking ahead to her Indian Wells bid, Martinez believes the biggest factor could be more psychological than physical.
“Sveta has fully recovered from the operation, she only has a little pain in her left hand so she will have to forget her fear in order to hit her backhand the same way as before she got injured.” He told Spanish website Punto de Break.
In a recent interview with Sport 360, the two-time grand slam champion elaborated about the source of the pain she feels in her wrist. Playing down its significance by saying it is just due to the trauma of the operation. Her wrist surgery was conducted by Frederik Verstreken. A Belgian doctor who has previously operated on Kim Clijsters and Belinda Bencic.
“I don’t feel the old pain but I still feel my wrist because it’s been operated on. But the doctor said it should be like that and slowly it will go away.” She explained.
Currently ranked 19th in the world, the focus of Kuznetsova is on how well she performs on the court and not where she is in the rankings. Martinez has confirmed that the pair are following the same objectives as the ones prior to the injury, but they are in no hurry to succeed.
“The objectives set is the same as we have had in recent years. The first thing is to prepare and recover well, something that we know will not be easy, the main thing is that she returns to compete with guarantees and without pain so that she can do the maximum on the court.” Explained Martinez.
“We have no goal to be top 10 or anything related to the ranking, the goal is to be able to compete well to win big tournaments against the good players.”
This year Kuznetsova will have a wealth of points to defend at Indian Wells. Last year she reached the final before losing to Elena Vesnina in three sets.
