Politics in the Rear View Mirror, Chakvetadze is Ready to Play Tennis

Written by: Staff on 29th December 2011

Politics in the Rear View Mirror, Chakvetadze is Ready to Play Tennis |

Anna Chakvetadze, who missed most of the 2011 season after suffering from dizziness and then dabbled in politics by standing in the Russian elections as a member of the Right Cause Party, is ready to return to the game.

Her problem first emerged at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February, when she collapsed on center court while competing against Caroline Wozniacki. She completed just six more matches during the year, also retiring from matches at Indian Wells and Stuttgart. Her final match of the season was a 6-2 6-1 thrashing by Maria Sharapova in the first round at Wimbledon.

“Doctors found an inflammation in my ear and connected it with the dizziness,” she told wtatennis.com. “I had to take medication for it, for a while actually. I didn’t expect that it would take so long to get over it, but I did it.

“When I felt ready to play again it was already almost the end of the season, so I just decided to wait until the new season to play again. It was disappointing, but my health is the most important thing, and I hope I’ll be able to do some good things in the new season. I’m 100% healthy now. It doesn’t bother me anymore. I’m completely over it.”

The former world number five has slumped to 232 and she faces a huge challenge to re-establish herself at the top of the game.

“I can use my special ranking for eight tournaments, so I’ll be doing that in the first part of the year. Then we’ll see what happens,” said the 24-year old, who will return to action in Hobart immediately before the Australian Open.

“Of course it’s going to be physically tough to start playing tournaments again … but I feel so motivated to be back. I miss playing, I miss hitting the ball, I miss competing. I’ve found my motivation again and if I didn’t think I could do well again, I wouldn’t be coming back.”

Topics: Anna Chakvetadze