Dubai: Agnieszka Radwanska, a champion in Dubai in 2012 and a former world No. 2, knows it will be a hard climb back to the top again.
The Polish star has 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 for her.
“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.
“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.
However, she ploughed on. “I know it’s going to be difficult. Everything is changing going forward. We can see a lot of good players playing a really high level. It’s not about one or two tournaments to come back. Maybe if you win the Grand Slam, you have 2000 points. Otherwise, it’s always going to take time,” she said.
“Physically, I have been feeling much better than last year. The last three months just took me to be healthy again, get back to my weight, to stay healthy without any sickness in the meantime. So actually now I start to feel better. Everything takes time. I think I’m just starting from now and I’m still working very hard, doing a lot of things on and off the court,” Radwanska added.
