US Open – After her upset win over Caroline Wozniacki (4) 6-4 5-7 7-6, Petra Cetkovska spoke to the press in detail about her time away from the sport. Cetkovska was up a set and double breaks when Wozniacki came storming back into the match. The Czech player had to save 4 match points before closing it out in the 3rd set tiebreaker. “On a tennis match is that it’s never over until the match point, until after the last point is over,” Cetkovska said after the match. This win marked only her 2nd main draw win of 2015. Cetkovska recently came back earlier this year from a hip injury which caused her to miss about seven months on tour. “This injury that I’ve overcome, it was really difficult. Those first months it was extremely difficult. Every day I was asking myself if I will be able to play tennis again, to play on such a big stadium, to play such a big match and win it.”
Cetkovska stated that she first sustained the in July 2014 at an ITF event which she won. She experienced what she originally thought was “just blocked in [her] back.” For about a month she tried to find someone to fix it but nothing seemed to be working. Cetkovska was forced to pull out of all the summer hardcourt events and then lost in the 2nd round of the US Open. She described this experience, “It started to be really painful, so I got an MRI … They said there is a tear in the labrum and something else on the other side of the hip with the bone.” Cetkovska was then faced with the decision of whether to undergo surgery or attempt to deal with the problem with physical therapy. She opted to have the surgery at the end of September 2014. “I had one month crutches and I could start to run slowly after three months. I started to do a little bit of bike. I started to play tennis a little bit. I touched the racquet for the first time in February … It was a lot of work until everything gets back in order.”
Cetkovska was very appreciative of the efforts of her coach as she noted that he shared the struggles with her, “[I]t’s a satisfaction to see that his work and our time that we spend in the rehad, all those exercises and on the court that they are playing off. At least part of it is coming back.” Cetkovska next face the 26th seed, Flavia Pennetta for a place in the Round of 16.
