Katarina Srebotnik makes a welcome return to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour at the US Open

Katarina Srebotnik makes a welcome return to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour at the US Open

After 10 months out of the tennis world due to injury, Katarina Srebotnik is returning to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour at the US Open.

In 2008, Srebotnik reached the second week of Roland Garros and the US Open, and make it into the top 20 in the rankings but by the Sony Ericsson Championships in November the pain was too much.

“I was having pain in my Achilles in the last few months of the year but decided to treat it rather than do something drastic. It was hard to play and the treatment was taking longer than I expected. When I finished playing in Doha with Ai, I decided I wouldn’t play again until it was 100% healed. I could have started 2009 normally if I took pills to take the pain away, but I really didn’t want to do that.” she said.

During these 10 mont Srebotnik kept herself in tune as best she could.

“The whole thing felt like a huge punch for me. Physically I was tired from playing so much at the end of the year, so maybe I was ready for a little break. When I couldn’t go to Australia, then, it was okay. It’s very far and it’s hard to begin the year there.

“I wasn’t used to doing nothing though, so I was doing upper body work in the gym. Maybe I did a little bit too much of it, because I injured my shoulder on one of the machines. I pulled out of Fes and Madrid because of the shoulder – the Achilles was healthy by then.

“When Roland Garros came and I had been out for so long already, I was really sad. It was hard to watch on TV. I thought it would be okay for Wimbledon – I even went to London – but then a few days before the tournament the pain came back. I didn’t want to come back without being 100%, so I withdrew.

“I was always on stand-by mode. It wasn’t a holiday at all. Week after week, I was told I’d be back soon, so I was practicing whatever I could practice. But those weeks turned into months. At the time I didn’t know it would end up being this long, but that’s probably a good thing because it would be harder for me if I knew it would end up being 10 months at the end.”

One thought lingering in Srebotnik’s mind throughout the lay-off was the possibility for rising higher in the rankings, given the most exceptional results from last season came during the summer and fall.

“I didn’t really have anything to defend in the first half of the year – I was still No.25 this April – so I knew if I kept playing like I was, I could have gone even higher, maybe Top 15, who knows. Now I see my ranking dropping and it’s going to go down even more… I’ve had to accept that will happen.”

While being out of the tennis courts Srebotnik split with her coach and this situation make things even harder.

“There were three hurdles for me in those 10 months – the first two were the injuries and the third was I lost my coach after Wimbledon. She had different ambitions – she picked to travel with another team on Tour. We had many good years but in this whole situation I realized who really cares for me and who always will. The ones who stuck by me are the true friends.

“Right now I’m trying out a few coaches. I have trial periods with some of them. At the end of the year I’ll make a final decision on a coach for 2010. For the US Open, I just have a sparring partner travelling with me and supporting me.”

Srebotnik is coming back at the US Open where she will have a tough first round as she drew Nadia Petrova .

Katarina knows she is not 100% but she is happy to be back and this is what she said about returning to the tennis courts to compete: “Right now I feel really good. I’ve been practicing for one month now. I’m still sore in the shoulder, which is understandable considering I hadn’t practiced for 10 months, but this is bearable, and it will go away after a few weeks. I’m just excited to be back to competition. I’ve realized how much I miss this sport, how much I love it. When you’re healthy, you don’t know what you have.

“I think I speak for a lot of injured players when I say this. There are always worse things than losing a match.”