Former No. 20 undergoes fourth elbow surgery to make another comeback push
The young Croat Ana Konjuh has been one of the most promising players over the last seven or eight years, winning the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl at the age of 14 in 2012 and the Australian Open in January next year. Ana hadn't stayed on the ITF junior Tour for too long, losing in the semi-final of Roland Garros and Wimbledon before finishing her stellar junior career with the title at the US Open, concluding junior duties at the age of 15. A super talented player from Dubrovnik was the force to be reckoned with on the Pro Tour as well, reaching the first final in 2012 at the age of 14 and claiming the first title in June next year in Montpellier.
Ana was one of the youngest players in the top-300 at the end of the season and was ready for more of the same in 2014 despite missing four months of tennis (due to an elbow that would bother her many times again). She had reached the third round at Wimbledon as a qualifier and the semi-final in Istanbul, still at the age of 16, finishing the season with a few good results on the lower-ranked events for the place in the top-100. The start of 2015 was not that good but it all changed in Nottingham where Konjuh won her maiden WTA title, earning enough points to wrap up the year in the top-80.
Just like in 2015, Konjuh needed some time to find the right form in 2016 and it came at the best possible moment, advancing to the quarter-final of the US Open where she lost to Karolina Pliskova, backed by the semi-final in Guangzhou and the quarter-final in Moscow. That was enough to propel her inside the top-50 and continue her progress towards the top of the game. The hard-hitting Croat had opened 2017 season with the final in Auckland, followed by the quarter-final run in Dubai. Ana scored eight wins on grass but her problems started after reaching the quarters in Stanford (she cracked the top-20 at the end of July), losing in the opening round of the three most significant North American events and being forced to skip the rest of the season after the US Open with a right elbow injury.
Ana ended her cooperation with Zeljko Krajan at the beginning of September and she underwent elbow surgery on September 15, targeting her return at the start of the new season. Konjuh made a comeback in Brisbane where Elina Svitolina defeated her in the second round and was forced to skip the following tournaments with more elbow troubles, this time on the left hand which led to another medical intervention in March. Her ranking position was going down rapidly and she entered the Roland Garros from outside the top-100, losing 6-0, 6-1 to Carla Suarez Navarro and failing to make an impression in Eastbourne and Wimbledon as well, barely standing in the top-400 at that point.
The worst thing is, Ana wasn't sure what to do with her right elbow, practicing with no problems but feeling the pain in competitive matches after just a few games. Konjuh visited the specialists in Zurich, Turin and Bologna and no one could figure out what causes the constant pain. Hoping for a fresh start in 2019, Ana lost all three matches in St. Petersburg, Trnava and Budapest, feeling a sharp pain in her elbow once again and deciding to undergo the fourth surgery, desperately trying to extend her career and compete with no pain.
"I thought everything would be fine this year but unfortunately after the tournament in Budapest I couldn't train for a week and my elbow started to hurt again. I have several types of pain and the main one is terrible, like someone is cutting your elbow with a knife. I underwent surgery in Florida at the best possible doctor I could have found, hoping to start hitting again in July. Now, I have the biggest scar to remind me of this surgery, the biggest one so far, with a reconstruction of the ligament from my leg to elbow, something which is common in baseball and not tennis. I hope everything will be o.k."
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2Ti2g5j
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