Elina Svitolina described playing through a foot injury as "a painful experience" and admitted that she expected to feel some discomfort after returning from surgery but so far everything has gone great.
Following last year's US Open exit, the 30-year-old - who battled foot issues for quite some - underwent surgery and shut down her 2024 season.
Since launching her comeback at the Australian Open, Svitolina has appeared in five tournaments - she reached the quarterfinal at Melbourne Park but then picked up three early exits in February. However, the world No. 23 is again heating up her engines and has been through to the Indian Wells quarterfinal following a very notable 5-7 6-1 6-2 win over No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula.
Svitolina asked if she felt returning to tennis would be harder this time after the surgery
"I feel like it's been hard enough already, because the foot is something that we use on a daily basis, as well. With all the pain that I was struggling with for months, not stepping on the foot at all, it was swelling up during that months, it was really an experience, a painful one," the former world No. 3 explained.
After a successful rehab and recovery, Svitolina focused on gym work and getting stronger. And it worked out perfectly.
"Regarding the coming back on the court, of course I was expecting a little bit of discomfort... I feel like I did well with my team to put, you know, a lot of work to make it, you know, confident and strong for it to be good at the tournaments," the 30-year-old added.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian tennis star has made her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal as a mom.
By beating Pegula, Svitolina ended the American's seven-match winning streak. Now, she will be looking to do something against recent Dubai champion Mirra Andreeva, who is on a nine-match winning streak.
