World No. 47 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova reflected on her first-round defeat to Anastasia Sevastova at the Madrid Open, where she lost 4/6, 5/7.
Pavlyuchenkova revealed, “I sustained an injury about a week before arriving in Madrid. It was a 1.5 cm tear in my hamstring. I thought I might be able to compete, but I was training with a limp. At a Masters-level event, you really need to be at 100%, regardless of whether you`re playing Sevastova, Sabalenka, or anyone else. Sevastova was particularly tough on clay; she played intelligently, employing drop shots right from the start. She was aware of my injury, she saw my leg was taped, and she exploited that. Movement was difficult for me, but I kept fighting, and we still had a relatively close match.”
Asked about the difficulties she`s faced since the Australian Open and how challenging it is to deal with physical issues when longing to play pain-free, Pavlyuchenkova responded:
“If there were awards for positive attitude, my team and I would definitely take home a trophy,” she joked. “Since Australia, it feels like it`s been one problem after another: viruses, infections. I was on antibiotics for a long time – I won`t go into specifics – but thankfully I`m feeling better now and my energy levels are improving. And then this leg injury happened. I`m trying my best to stay resilient. There are essentially two paths: give up completely, or maintain a positive outlook and keep hoping for recovery. I`m confident that once things are right and my body heals, I can get back to training and gradually rebuild my form.”
