World number 47 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova commented on her first-round defeat to Anastasia Sevastova at the Madrid Open tournament, where she lost with a score of 4/6, 5/7.
She explained that the reason for her performance was an injury she had sustained a week prior to arriving in Madrid – a 1.5 cm tear in her hamstring. The athlete mentioned she had hoped to be able to compete, but trained while limping. According to her, at `Masters` level tournaments, you need to be playing at 100%, regardless of the opponent, whether it`s Sevastova, Sabalenka, or someone else. She noted that Sevastova was very resilient on clay and played smartly, often using drop shots from the very first ball. Pavlyuchenkova believes her opponent knew about her injury, seeing her bandaged leg, and exploited this. She found it difficult to move around, but she fought hard, and the match turned out to be relatively close.
When asked about the persistent problems she`s faced since the Australian Open, including a virus, and how challenging it is when you desperately want to play and enjoy tennis without pain, as well as the patience required, she responded:
“If they gave prizes for a positive attitude, my team and I would certainly receive a trophy,” (laughs). She confirmed that after Australia, it`s been one issue after another: viruses, infections. She was on antibiotics for a long time – “I don`t want to go into details, but I`m feeling better and my energy is starting to return.” However, now there`s this leg injury. She is trying to persevere. In her view, there are two options: give up completely or stay positive and hope for the best. Pavlyuchenkova expressed confidence that if everything goes well, her body will recover, she`ll start training, and gradually regain her form.
Adrian Whitmore