Jennifer Brady admits her long-awaited return to tennis at this week’s Citi Open has exceeded her expectations.
Playing in her first WTA event since August 2021, the former world No.13 brushed aside Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina 6-2, 6-1, in just over an hour. Impressively the American won 90% of her first service points (18/20) and broke her opponent six times overall. Kalinina is currently ranked 28th in the world and reached the final of the Italian Open earlier this year.
“I had the game plan. I was able to execute everything that I wanted to,” Tennis Now quoted Brady as saying after her match. “Maybe I played a little bit better, a lot more solid than I was expecting but I was really happy with my performance from the beginning of the match all the way to the end.”
The victory marks the end of what has been a frustrating injury break for Brady who reached the Australian Open final two years ago. During the second part of the 2021 season, she was diagnosed with a torn plantar fascia in her foot, as well as a stress fracture in her right knee. A few months after that she underwent knee surgery to address a separate issue.
Brady’s woes continued into this year after she sustained a bruised foot which stopped her from beginning her comeback at the French Open. She was advised not to play by doctors.
During her absence from the Tour, the 28-year-old sought advice from others on the Tour who have gone through similar experiences. One of those who she spoke with was Australia’s Daria Saville who didn’t play during the first six months of this year due to a torn ACL which required surgery. Saville recently reached the semi-finals of the Hamburg Open in what was only her fifth tournament since returning to action.
“I talked to a bit was Dasha Gavrilova. So because she’s come back from so many injuries and she’s been able to get her back,” Brady said. “Get herself back to the top and she’s just come back from an ACL just now and she started playing again. She was a really good person to get some good advice from.”
Only time will tell if Brady can return to the top of the women’s game once again. She currently has one WTA title to her name and is also a former US Open semi-finalist. No matter what happens, she is relishing starting her return on home soil.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything better,” she said. “I love playing at home. I love playing in the States and all of the support that I’ve gotten in the past couple of days it’s been amazing and everybody is really, really supporting me.”
Brady will next play seventh seed Madison Keys in the second round of the Citi Open.
