Podoroska returned to old habits: after 11 months without playing a main draw, he took the first step in the Warsaw tournament

Almost 11 months after her last appearance in a tournament of the most important women’s tennis circuit, Nadia Podoroska is back to play a main draw. And she came back with everything. Rosario, harassed by various injuries in the last year has dropped to 211th place in the world rankings, made his debut with a resounding victory in the Warsaw WTA 250 beating the Romanian with a double 6-1 Alessandra Cadantu Ignatik154th in the standings.

The small25 years old, will face the Brazilian in the second round Laura Pigosi (113th), who won 6-2 and 6-4 against the Russian Varvara Gracheva (9th preferred).

Podoroska – who had her best season in 2020, with a historic performance at Roland Garros, where she was semifinalist after starting in quality– had played his last game in the main draw of a tournament of this level on August 31 last year, when he lost in the first round of the US Open 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 against the Belgian Greetje Minnen (104 °).

The Santa Fe woman was at the time 37th in the standings – a step below her best position, the 36th position she had in mid-July – but she had not been feeling well physically for several months.

The discomfort – caused by an injury that is difficult to identify, but which today has a name: it is a proximal tendinopathy of the hamstring of the right leg – began in March, during his participation in the Guadalajara tournament, in which he lost. in the second round.

There he began to feel a pain in his hamstring, which at first he thought was one more than usual. Something normal in the life of a professional tennis player. That’s why she didn’t stop and she continued to compete, sometimes more uncomfortable, sometimes less, for much of the season. Until that first round defeat of the American Grand Slam. So, she talked to her team about her and decided to stop and not play again until her pain was gone. Recovery took longer than expected.

“I went through different stages of different aches and pains. At first it was a little bit in the hamstring, then in the hip, then it got to my back or sciatic nerve. This made it difficult to identify the injury, but it did allowed to continue playing and training. Even though in the long run I managed to train less and less. Until I had to stop, “Rosario explained in a video he shared on his networks in December.

At the time, she said she was “very motivated” and that her goal was to return to the cement tour in early 2022. But shortly thereafter she confirmed that she would not be playing in Melbourne. Her absence from ocean tournaments cost her a place in the top 100: on January 31st she appeared in 112th place.

He has set himself a new goal, to play again in March, which not even he has managed to achieve. “The recovery process to heal my body definitely takes longer. Several discomforts followed the injury I was carrying and that is why I was unable to return in the time I expected,” he said. Soon after, he also dropped out of Roland Garros, his favorite tournament of his. And at the end of May, he dropped out of the top 150.

At the beginning of June he was finally able to return to court. She did it away from the lights of the WTA circuit, at an Interclub she played in Stuttgart, Germany. That match gave her good feelings and she, more motivated than ever, went to London, where she played the qualifier at Wimbledon (she said goodbye in the second round).

His brief spell on the lawn of the English “greats” was the kick-off for his comeback. Shortly thereafter he was semifinalist in two of the ITF World Tour (in Den Haag, the Netherlands, and Versmold, Germany), both on brick dust. And he couldn’t pass the classification of the WTA 250 Palermoin which he lost in the first instance last week.

His perseverance and his desire to “be again” had their reward this Monday. She trans she entered the Warsaw tournament directly with protected ranking (an injured player can, upon returning to the game, play a series of tournaments using the ranking she had at the time of the injury); she in the first round she proved to be still a competitive player, despite the long break.

Victory against Cadantu Ignatik took her to the second round of a WTA event for the first time since her crash on that occasion in Cleveland on August 24 last year against Belarusian. Aliaksandra Sasnovich. It also allowed him to return to the top 200.

Santafesina has secured, at least, the 190th step. And if she beats the Brazilian Pigossi she will take a step further and will once again be the best Argentine in the standings, ousting Lourdes Carlé (today 182nd).