Radwanska sees long ride back to the top
Agnieszka Radwanska, a champion here in 2012 and a former world No. 2, sees a hard climb back to the top again.
The Polish star set herself a goal of returning into the top-10 by the end of this season, but a straight sets defeat in the first round of Dubai Championship has served as a reality check.
“Of course, coming back to the top-10 would be great. That’s the goal. So, I am not really thinking about what to do in every tournament as the goal is to try and win wherever you go. So, I think we will see at the end of the year how it’s going to be,” Radwanska told media after her 7-5, 6-4 loss to her Russian opponent Daria Kasatkina on Monday night.
Due to turn 29 in the first week of March, Radwanska reached a career-high No. 2 in the rankings following her march to the Wimbledon final in 2012. The girl from Krakow, Poland followed this up with quarter-finals at Roland Garros in 2013 and then two successive semi-finals at the Australian Open in 2014 and 2016. In between, she claimed the year-ending WTA Tour Finals in 2015.
In 2016, she got engaged to Dawid Celt, a former Polish tennis player and hitting partner and the couple finally married on July 22, 2017. However, Radwanska has spent much of last season recovering from either illness or injuries, which pushed her way down the rankings to her current No. 31.
Many changes
“Everything has changed,” she admitted.
“Especially I think physically it’s also tougher than it was, especially playing the young ones. The intensity in the game is always bigger and one ends up playing more of those longer, good matches. Sometimes it’s tough both physically and mentally. I think everything needs to work good to play a good match and to win the match. So obviously it’s not getting any easier,” Radwanska added.
Her slide started last April when she withdrew from the Madrid and Rome tournaments citing a foot injury. She played in the French Open and lasted till the third round where she fell to Frenchwoman Alize Cornet. Radwanska was next felled by a viral illness that made her lose a lot of weight.