ROME — Among the many things Anastasija Sevastova might have anticipated about motherhood, the idea of learning to walk at the same time as her infant daughter was not one she foresaw.
However, just over a year ago, this unexpected situation became her reality. After playing only four tournaments since returning from maternity leave, Sevastova sustained a serious knee injury during the Austin quarterfinals, damaging not just her ACL but also the meniscus and cartilage.
She needed crutches for six weeks, coinciding with the exact time Alexandra was learning to take her first steps.
“That was not fun,” Sevastova commented ahead of the Internazionali BNL d`Italia, where she is competing under a special ranking and is scheduled to face Lucia Bronzetti in the first round on Tuesday. “But it helps when you have another life [her daughter]. And then I started walking with her!”
With Sevastova`s comeback abruptly halted, few anticipated seeing her back on tour, much less making the kind of impressive return she did at the Mutua Madrid Open. In her opening match, the 35-year-old Sevastova overcame a difficult 0-8 head-to-head record to defeat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for the first time. She then ended Stuttgart champion Jelena Ostapenko`s winning streak, beating her in straight sets to reach the third round. Her characteristic drop shots and slices were as effective as ever.
Commenting on the Pavlyuchenkova match, she quipped,
“Nobody beats me nine times!”
She added,
“When the score reached 3-3, I thought, `Okay, I`ve won three games. That`s sufficient.` After that, I relaxed and stopped overthinking. It was simply a process.”
This same resilient mindset helped Sevastova navigate her severe injury.
“Pregnancy and giving birth were nothing compared to this,” Sevastova stated.
Returning to tennis was far from her thoughts initially; her only objective was simply to be able to walk without assistance again.
“When you`re on crutches, tennis isn`t on your mind,” she explained. “It was step by step. After six months, I could manage maybe an hour on court once a week. It was just one small step after another. I felt motivated to practice as I saw improvement, but in November/December, things worsened again.”
“I`d practice, and for the next four days, my knee would be swollen and painful. I tried injections, but they didn`t provide relief. In January, I underwent another surgery, which helped significantly. That`s when I began to envision my return.”
With her usual deadpan humor, Sevastova can now discuss her injury lightly.
“I cannot complain,” she remarked. “Worse things happen to others. I was injured for a year – that was my experience. There`s no explaining why it occurred. But now I`m healthy, with a healthy family and daughter.”
Sevastova`s special ranking allocation has been reset, and she intends to skip Roland Garros in order to utilize her two Grand Slam entries at Wimbledon and the US Open. The US Open was the location of her best Grand Slam results, including one semifinal and two quarterfinal appearances between 2016 and 2018. She now considers her performance in Madrid last month as the most satisfying result of her career.
Joking, she suggests this means she`s currently at her career peak.
But given her apparent happiness off the court, what motivated her return at all? Sevastova describes her life in Graz, Austria, as “beautiful,” sharing it with her partner and coach Ronnie Schmidt, their 2-year-old daughter Alexandra, and a Portuguese water dog named Oscar (who, amusingly, avoids swimming). Alexandra has even shown some interest in tennis, though only for brief periods before being drawn to water, sand, or their trampoline.
“I simply want to prove something to myself,” Sevastova stated. “I want my daughter to see this life and understand that persistence can help you achieve things. It`s important for her to witness that. While you could say, `I aim to win x, y, and z,` this [proving something to myself] is my true goal.”
Jasper Hawthorne 
Dominic Ashworth