By Mark Winters
This time around, Vania King, her first round Roland Garros match was memorable, but not for the result. She crashed out 6-3, 6-3, to Mihaela Buzărnescu, the No. 31 seed from Romania, but she was encouraged because it was her singles performance of the year. True, she had played three ITF events in the US at Dothan, Jackson and Rancho Santa Fe, but, in truth, to her, they didn’t count.
She couldn’t even hobble, after injuring her left ankle against Andrea Petkovic of Germany at the 2017 BNP Paribas tournament, that is held in Indian Wells, California every spring. “I had surgery on my left ankle and it took nine months for me to be able to put my foot down and walk properly,” King said after her match. “The muscles in my leg atrophied and I had to build them up. I also had to strengthen the muscles in my right leg because I had overcompensated with the injury.”
Any athlete who suffers a significant injury always returns to competition with doubts. Halfway through the second set, King asked for a medical time out to have her right Achilles tendon treated. “I was cautious and struggled with my mobility, which has always been one of my strengths, and injured my right leg.”
King, the youngest of four, comes from a tennis family. Older brother Phillip won the US Boy’s National 18 title in back-to-back years and was a four-time All American at Duke University. Twin sisters, Ivana and Mindy, were also intercollegiate standouts at Princeton University and University of Pennsylvania, respectively. As an aside, Mindy designs Vania’s tennis clothing. The fashion line is called MINX (pronounced “minks”) and the company logo aims to call attention to the family name (King) and the teamwork of the three sisters. (Vania wore one of the spring designs in her match against Buzărnescu. Information about the full collection can be found at www.minx-clothing.com).
King, who used the first of her eight Protected Ranking opportunities to play Roland Garros, is extraordinary bright and perceptive. Her mind is always mulling over hosts of ideas. As a result, while she was unable to play, the Southern California and Florida resident completed her Master’s Degree in Non-Profit Management, (a project she began six years ago).
Though she wasn’t victorious, King was pleased. “I thought I was ready, but the time off hurt me. I knew what to do based on my experience, but I am not very patient, and I need to be in order to deal with the stress that comes from playing on my ankle, (which has developed sport induced arthritis). It was almost as if I was playing, then I wasn’t there. I have to work on my fitness and play a lot of matches. Overall, I am very pleased when I remember that not too long ago I couldn’t ever walk on my foot.”
