“It was a very tough process, especially mentally for me to accept all this. As I always say, I love to play tennis. I love to compete. So all of a sudden one day I had to stop completely and started to have like a normal life, not even a normal life. I had to stay on the couch. so imagine how boring was that.
“I think now maybe I will value a little bit more now being in every tournament, every match, every draw. I’m really excited to be here (in Melbourne) again.”
The 2021 Indian Wells champion admitted in January that she was pain-free once again, but her retirement in Dubai and subsequent tears will worry fans after already missing the majority of last season.
