WASHINGTON: Two-time reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenkova returns to competition at the WTA Washington Open this week after a month-long layoff due to a shoulder injury.
And the world number three expects to be as ready as her rivals, who are now playing at the Paris Olympics, when the US Open begins on August 26.
“There is still a way to the US Open. I have a feeling that they will be ready,” said Sabalenka. “They’ll probably take a break. They won’t play anything.”
“At the end it was very important for me to take a little break. I’ve had really tough matches since March. It was much needed. Mentally I feel fresher and ready to go. I’ll be ready.”
Washington’s top seed Sabalenkova was barred from competing in the Olympics because her home country of Belarus was barred from sending athletes to Paris because of its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Sabalenka wants to return to the competition court after long rehabilitation on her right shoulder.
“I’m here because I got injured and haven’t played for a while,” Sabalenka said.
Sabalenkova, who last played in Washington in 2017, suffered a shoulder injury last month in Berlin that forced her to withdraw from her quarter-final match.
She later withdrew from Wimbledon where she had reached the semi-finals in her two previous appearances.
“It was a very difficult decision because I have never withdrawn from a tournament due to injury,” she said.
“But I decided to take care of my health, do a lot of rehab, come back stronger. So the recovery was very hard because for two weeks I did rehab, like a lot of exercises, a lot of treatments, a lot of recovery stuff.”
Twenty-six-year-old Sabalenková was off the court for a week and a half to focus on fitness.
“It felt like I’d been working out all day,” she said. “I feel like it’s actually time to switch off, but you’re always working out, you’re always doing something. It’s been very hard.”
Sabalenka trained in hot and humid Florida, making similar conditions in the US capital somewhat easier.
