Russian tennis star Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has said for the first time in her career she has been forced to take a lengthy break from tennis due to injury.
The world No.14 will be sidelined from the Tour for at least 10 weeks due to a knee injury. Speaking to Sport Express, Pavlyuchenkova said that during four of those weeks she has been advised not to play tennis all together in order to aid her recovery. The 30-year-old has been troubled by issues with her knee in recent months but continued playing whilst under the guidance of a physio.
“This is an occupational disease of tennis players,” said Pavlyuchenkova.
“Because of the rankings race, all tournaments seem important to us (players), it’s hard to stop and take a break.’
“My knee has been bothering me for a year and a half now. I played through pain and constantly drank painkillers.’
“This is not a complaint, but I am not entirely satisfied with the work of my physiotherapists, who traveled with me to tournaments. They didn’t take the problem seriously. It was necessary for a long time to force me to do an MRI and proceed from its results.”
The setback comes during what has already been a frustrating start to the year for Pavlyuchenkova who tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in Australia. She believes that the virus has ‘exacerbated all her old sores’ which includes her knee. So far this year she has only played one tournament, which was at the Australian Open where she reached the third round before losing to Sorana Cirstea.
As a result of her injury, Pavlyuchenkova will miss key tournaments in Miami and Indian Wells as she targets a return around April-May time. Although her exact return date will be decided based on the results of a medical evaluation.
“I hope that in four weeks I will return to the court and be able to play,” she outlined. “I will do another MRI six weeks later. I hope that it will show significant improvements, and in another month I will be able to return to the tour.’
“I spent a couple of days digesting this information. For a long time I did not realize that I would miss (playing) so much.”
Whilst she hasn’t won a Tour title since 2018, the Russian broke new ground last year by reaching her first Grand Slam final at the French Open where she lost to Barbora Krejčíková. During that same year she reached a career high of 11th in the world.
Pavlyuchenkova says she is aiming to play some competitive tennis ahead of this year’s French Open where she will have a considerable amount of points to defend.
