This year’s Volvo Car Open in Charleston marks the return of a familiar face to the WTA Tour.
Shelby Rogers last played a competitive match at the 2018 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where she lost in the first round. Since then, the American player has been sidelined from the tour due to a troublesome left knee injury that required surgery. The first significant injury of her career to date.
“I just missed it so much,” the 26-year-old told The Post and Courier about her comeback. “I was going crazy sitting inside and laying around, so I had to get on the court just to remember what it was like.”
Rogers has been ranked as high as 48th in the world. She is best known for her surprise run to the quarter-finals of the French Open. In that tournament, she scored wins over Karolina Pliskova, Petra Kvitova and Irina-Camelia Begu. Rogers has also reached the final of two WTA events on the clay in Austria and Brazil. At the time of her knee problems, the American was ranked 78th in the world.
“I talked to other players and people who have had been injured, but there’s nothing to prepare you for what you go through.”
During her injury break, Rogers embarked upon other activities such as working as an announcer for The Tennis Channel and doing an online course with the Indiana University East. Although it wasn’t easy dealing with the shortcoming in money during her hiatus from the sport. Rogers has made just over $2 million in prize money throughout her career. Putting her 222nd on the all-time list for the most prize money won by a female player (as of April 1st, 2019).
“That’s a part that I think could be improved with the Tour,” Rogers commented about financial support for injured players. “It’s something I never had to deal with before, and something I didn’t really understand until this happened. You take a year away from a job, and anybody would struggle with that.”
“It was a big learning process and I tried to keep myself busy and try some new things to see different sides of the Tour and the game, and that was fun.”
This week will be the first test of Rogers’ current fitness in Charleston. Her first round opponent will be Russian world No.68 Evgeniya Rodina. Rodina has endured a sluggish start to 2019 after winning only two out of 11 matches played. It will be the first time the two have played each other since 2010, when the Russian won in three sets at an ITF $50,000 event in Dothan, America.
“I still don’t know if I’m ready,” Rogers admits. “But I was always ready for the comeback. That’s what kept me motivated, to come back and play the sport I love again. If you don’t have that purpose, it’d be very difficult to do that four hours a day of physical therapy and work through that pain.”
Rogers will play her first round match on Monday in what will be her ninth appearance at the tournament.
This year’s Volvo Caro Open will feature three top 10 players in the draw. Sloane Stephens is the top seed, followed by defending champion Kiki Bertens and Aryna Sabalenka. All eight seeded players has received a bye in the first round.
