Cool Russian tennis player rolled past Wimbledon. It’s a shame for Nastya!

Grass tennis season is in full swing and the top players are gearing up for one of the biggest events of the summer – Wimbledon. True, this cannot be said about Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – once the first racket of Russia. A long break in her career had a negative impact on her rating, and now the tennis player complains that she is not invited to tournaments.

But just recently she entered the top eight at Roland Garros!

No invitations

Pavlyuchenkova announced the absence of the grass season in social networks. Now she is ranked 115th in the WTA rankings, which would allow her to get at least a Grand Slam qualification, but the Wimbledon line-up was formed earlier, when she was located much lower. The same applies to other grass tournaments. Nastya did not wait for special invitations, and used her protected rating at the two previous Grand Slam tournaments – the Australian Open and Roland Garros.

“This is a big disappointment,” Pavlyuchenkova noted in her message.

However, the Russian woman retains restrained optimism. After the grass season is over, she plans to focus on clay tournaments and get back in shape by the fall. In the future, Pavlyuchenkova hopes to get to the US Open.

Breakout after failure

Until November 2021, Anastasia was in the top 20 of the WTA rankings and even got to 11th place – the highest in her career. But then the knee problems started. They had previously pursued Pavlyuchenkova, but the tennis player tried not to notice them.

— I had a rhythm, good results. I didn’t want to stop. I understood that it would be difficult to return to this rhythm without tournaments,” Anastasia told the WTA press service.

Photo: © Robert Prange / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Over time, the condition worsened, and in the spring of last year, Pavlyuchenkova was forced to go on sick leave. Doctors forbade any physical activity, so the form was lost. Only in November, the Russian woman began simple training.

At the same time, she had enough time to prepare for Roland Garros. Having got there according to the protected rating, Anastasia reached the quarterfinals, where she lost to the Czech Karolina Muchova. This result allowed her to make a powerful leap in the WTA rankings – from 333rd to 115th position.

Are the organizers right?

But even such successes did not convince the organizers of grass tournaments to give Nastya a wild card. The feelings of the Russian woman, who just made a good noise at Roland Garros, can be understood, however, there is logic in the decision of the leaders of the grass competitions. Firstly, Nastya won all 12 titles on clay or hard, but on grass she never reached the final. Secondly, the organizers always try to give preference to local tennis players, giving them a chance to rise in the rankings and earn money.

Nevertheless, Pavlyuchenkova has been on the tour for more than 15 years, her name is known to all tennis fans, and the results speak for themselves. The very fact that she will have to miss part of the season after a great stretch is upsetting. We can only hope that the forced pause will not unsettle our tennis player.