Seven years after last donning the green and gold, Arina Rodionova is back in the fray at the site of her remarkable run in January.
Brisbane, 9 April 2024 | Dan Imhoff
Pat Rafter Arena instantly evokes triumphant memories for Arina Rodionova upon her return to Brisbane for this week’s Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers tie against Mexico.
In January, in her Brisbane International main draw debut, the 34-year-old enjoyed a stunning run when she claimed her first top-50 win in almost four years over Martina Trevisan before her upset of former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin.
Her defeat to teenager Mirra Andreeva in the round of 16 was played on an outside court, which kept her flawless singles record on the court intact.
“It’s only been two or three months. I love this court, I’ve played well on this court and such a good feeling to be back,” Rodionova said. “Hopefully everyone will be back. I think it was full house for Brisbane International.”
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A month after her run, Rodionova became the oldest woman to crack the top 100.
It was the ultimate reward for persevering when many before her would have hung up the racquets for good after suffering a career-threatening wrist injury in 2022.
Rodionova instead pulled off a remarkable return, capturing seven ITF titles last year to finish the with an impressive 76-21 win-loss record at that level for the season.
“I was playing pretty small tournaments where no one is watching, and I was on my own so it was kind of a tough year, but I was really excited to do that after I was out with the injury for eight months,” she said.
“I think I was excited to be playing tennis again. It’s something you can never take for granted because one day in 2022, I think four days before Wimbledon, I broke my wrist and I didn’t know if I’ll ever play tennis again, so once I started it was pretty special to be on the court every time.
“I really appreciated every match that I played and I played a lot of those last year, so I just kept having fun and just kept fighting. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter if you’re playing on this beautiful court or you’re playing somewhere in Portugal where no one is watching, the game is still the same and yeah, I still enjoy it.”
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Seven years since she was last part of…
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