🎾 Michiel de Krom vs Marco Improveti
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At 33 years old, the physicist Karolina PliskovaPerhaps, he has said enough. It is a sensation that the Czech experienced last season, when her return was aborted after just three games in low-profile tournaments located in Portugal. I needed more recovery time after a serious injury to his ankle which left him out of combat for almost all of 2025, even stating that “he couldn’t even walk” at certain times of the year.
The Czech is one of several players with the clear intention of returning in style, of getting excited again in a 2026 of resurrections. However, reality is not so rosy… and the body knows it. Expectations? As low as possible. Delusion? Everything in the world and more: after all, this may be the last full season that Karolina lives on the circuit WTA. Big words for a number one in the world who knows, yes, that her future hangs in the balance.
“My goals, today, are small. I don’t want to demand things that are too exaggerated. For now, it will be enough if I am able to play without pain and finish several matches. When you are at the top, it is almost impossible for your goal to be ‘just’ winning a round, but right now I know that it is very difficult to come back after an injury like that.”the Central European confesses openly in conversation with Sport.cz. The frankness is such that she herself admits that withdrawal was considered already at the end of 2025, when a simple question echoed in his head: “Is it worth it?”
“I thought I would be unable to return to the Grand Slams. I was very bad, wondering if it was worth it. Not only did my leg hurt, but also my back and my arm. Everything hurt, I didn’t know if it made sense”says Pliskova, who is already traveling to oceanic lands to give herself a new opportunity in 2026. “I gave myself space and distance and started working and training differently. That’s why I told myself that I wanted to try again at the beginning of this year.”
Pliskova will use her protected ranking, since she has fallen out of the top-1000, but she still has not lost faith in her return
The roadmap of the finalist Wimbledon y US Open It is marked by its ranking. All this time off the slopes has sent her out of the top-1000although you will have the possibility of using the protected ranking. Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne They will be the three stops of a train prepared for everything… also, even for the worst scenario. “I’m excited and looking forward to it because I wasn’t in Australia last year, although I don’t think it’s a place I’ll return to after my career. I don’t have high expectations.”confirms.
Of course, the scenario is less bleak than when she tried to return briefly in 2025. In the last month, Pliskova has tested herself against the best in her country in some training and exhibition matches, with a most satisfactory result than the one from a few months ago. “I started very early last fall. Neither my leg nor my body were ready. My back joined soon too, but now I have been playing all December without any discomfort. It is clear that the games are something very different and I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I consider that I am ready.”
If there is a clear conclusion before leaving for Australia, it is that it will be the physical state the one that determines to what extent Karolina is ready to live a final stage in the world of tennis. “I don’t want to worry about anything. If I’m not physically well, there’s no point in continuing. I only want to play if I’m pain-free and I know I can enjoy it.” Some strong words that we will see in what situation they leave us with a great champion of the last decade of our sport.
