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Q & Casey: Dellacqua On The Road Back

Q & Casey: Dellacqua On The Road Back

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – Flashback five months ago. Casey Dellacqua and her doubles partner Yaroslava Shvedova had already qualified for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. They were the third team to do so, qualifying third behind Hingis/Mirza and Safarova/Mattek-Sands not long after reaching the US Open final. Then came the freak fall on court at the China Open that would sideline the affable Aussie with a concussion, forcing her out of the Australian summer swing.

Still ranked No.4 in doubles, Dellacqua was cleared to play at the end of January and she returns to the tour this week at the BNP Paribas Open, playing doubles with her good friend, Sam Stosur. The quality pair have a mighty task against Co-No.1s Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza on Friday.

WTA Insider sat down with Dellacqua before the start of her tournament to talk about the difficulty of the last five months and how she hopes to get back on track.

WTA Insider: Can you just walk us through what happened in Beijing?
Dellacqua: I fell on court in the semifinals. I hit the back of my head and I kind of gave myself whiplash on the way down, so I had a lot of really bad neck pain, a lot of symptoms from the concussion, as well. It was a bit of a freak accident, really, and a bit of an unfortunate accident, because Slava and I had to miss the WTA Finals and had to miss a lot. Obviously, health is always a priority, but I suffered quite a lot from it.

I had symptoms like really, really bad headaches all the time. Any time I tried to do a little bit of exercise, I’d feel really dizzy and faint. I just was in a cloud of drowsiness. I couldn’t remember things, and I thought I’d be fine in a couple of weeks, but it actually got worse as time went on.

Then I just decided that my health was my priority, so this is my first tour event back. I played Fed Cup and played a 25K with Ash Barty a few weeks back. But this is my first WTA event back. It’s good to be back, but it did take a bit longer than I expected. It was just important, especially anything to do with the brain, that I was ready and fine to play again.

Casey Dellacqua, Yaroslava Shvedova

WTA Insider: Usually when a player is off tour it’s because of an injury that can be treated with surgeries, tape jobs, or medication. Concussions are a different beast. How do you actually “rehab” for a concussion?
Dellacqua: It’s just time, and that was a real frustrating thing. I’d keep saying, ‘I’m fine, I’m fine,’ and I kept doing all these tests with my doctor back home, and she was just ruling me out. It was up to her, really, in the end because it’s a bit negligent if they send me out there when I haven’t passed all the tests that needed to be done.

It was a really frustrating injury because I’ve obvious had a couple of big injuries before but yeah, you do rehab. This was really frustrating because I didn’t have a timeframe, and it was just about making sure that you’re healthy, and it’s hard to know when that is. It was kind of frustrating in that sense, and there wasn’t much I could do, except rest.

They just said it’s kind of like spraining your ankle, only you’ve sprained your brain a bit, and you need to let it settle. I thought I was losing the plot there for a while, because the brain’s so important; it controls everything. So I did think for a bit I was losing the plot, but I’m good now and they kept reassuring me that I was going to be fine and it’s just time.

WTA Insider: Since you didn’t have a timeframe on when you might be cleared to play, was there ever a time you thought your career might be over?
Dellacqua: I guess that was really frustrating because I’d had a really good year, as well. I just wanted to get back out there but then you start to doubt yourself, like, ‘I’ve had a couple of big injuries, I’m 31 in February,’ and the longer I’m out, the harder it is to get back. You start stressing, and that’s not going to help. I was having trouble sleeping, and it was just a vicious cycle.

It was really important for me to kind of just step away and make sure I got better because I certainly had doubts of like, ‘When am I going to feel right to get back out there?’ That stress of knowing the longer you are out, the harder it is. These girls are getting better, they’re faster, they’re stronger and one month is big. That was frustrating, as well.

At the moment, I am just going to focus a bit more on doubles. I do still want to play singles, but I’m probably still not right just yet to play both and manage that. I’ll play a bit of doubles just to get me back going, and look to play a bit more singles, but I’m just glad to be healthy.

WTA Insider: When did you get the all-clear?
Dellacqua: I went down to Melbourne for the Australian Open, and I was doing a little bit of a hit with Alicia Molik, the Fed Cup captain. I said, ‘Look, the doctor said that I was fine,’ and I’d done a little bit of physical activity and felt that I recovered ok.

Alicia was kind of like, ‘Do you think you’ll be ready for Fed Cup?’ and I was like, ‘Well, you tell me; I’ll practice and I’ll give you what I’ve got. If you think that’s good enough, then yes, I’m ready.’ I did some work down there, and did some doubles stuff with Cara Black, which was great, and went to Fed Cup. Just before Fed Cup, they kind of said that I was good.

Casey Dellacqua

WTA Insider: Were you able to do any training while you were still suffering from the concussion symptoms?
Dellacqua: The first couple of months, I was actually just resting a lot at home. Any time I’d even try to do grocery shopping, for example, or do things with [my son] Blake, I’d just get really headachy. For the first few months, I really didn’t do much, I was just at home recovering. I couldn’t even watch movies, so I was at home and it was frustrating. Any time I’d watch TV for 10 minutes, I’d get a headache.

I knew when I came back that I was going to have to work hard again. That’s why I’m just training, playing some doubles, and then increasing my load. I can’t go from doing that to doing a lot, because I’ll get injured again. I’m just trying to find a good balance of increasing my load, slowly, and making sure that I’m healthy along the way.

WTA Insider: Were you surprised you were able to win your first match back at Fed Cup and then make an ITF final with Ashleigh Barty?
Dellacqua: The Fed Cup was really crucial in the end, because we had to play a live rubber, and I hadn’t played a match since October, so I was like, ‘Way to throw me in the deep end!’

I was just really stoked because Sam was playing well; she’d won both her singles and I felt comfortable walking out there with here. We’ve known each other for a long time, so it was comforting to know that I could talk to her and just say like, ‘You’ve got to help me out; I haven’t played a match for a while.’ That was great; the Fed Cup gave me a lot of confidence to know that, ‘Ok, I haven’t played for four months, but I’m still ok.’ We played, and we won, and it was a pretty crucial match.

Then going to the ITF was great; we made the final. I didn’t know really what to expect. Ash hasn’t played for 18 months, I haven’t played for a bit. I just wanted to get consecutive matches. We made the final. I felt better then, coming here, knowing that I’ve played a few matches, as well. I think so far so good, and see how the year unfolds. So far, I’m good.

WTA Insider: Are these weeks in Indian Wells just an experiment to see where you’re at and then you’ll re-assess? Or do you have a schedule mapped out?
Dellacqua: I’m definitely going to play The Miami Open and Volvo Cars Open in Charleston, for sure. Then we’ve got another Fed Cup tie in Australia against America.

I’m pretty much ready to go. I’m just not sure when my singles will kick back in. I really want to try and really be ready for the grass circuit. When I can play singles – because my ranking’s at No.150 – when I can get in, I want to play now, but it’s going to be tough that my doubles ranking is higher. I’m just going to try to work it out and see where it goes.

WTA Insider: Usually players keep their off-day training light during tournaments. Are you continuing to train while you’re playing?
Dellacqua: If I was in tournament mode, I’d probably do a bit less than I have been doing. I’ve even been playing some singles points, in preparation for singles. I’ve just got a little bit more stuff to do in the gym, because I am just playing doubles and at these tournaments, you have a fair bit of time, sometimes, to have practice days.

It’s kind of a little bit like my pre-season as such, because I didn’t really do one. That and getting back into some point play. Anyone I practice with, I’m doing a lot more singles, actually. I’ve played a bit of practice doubles, but I’ve been doing more singles [practice].

WTA Insider: Is your family able to travel with you?
Dellacqua: [My partner] Amanda’s pregnant again, so she’s 30 weeks. She’s too far along to travel, so she’s due in early May. Unfortunately, Blake couldn’t come. When I get home from Fed Cup – it’ll only be a few weeks – and then the next baby will be here. It’s going to be busy, but that’s why they couldn’t travel this time around.

Life’s about to get a bit more crazy, but that was a positive [from the concussion]. Obviously being out, I got to spend a lot of time at home with Blake, and help Amanda out, being pregnant, so that was great that I could give her a helping hand as well.

WTA Insider: So how does it feel to be back on tour?
Dellacqua: It’s pretty much same old, same old. It’s just the crazy tennis world. Nothing’s really changed too much; there’s a few new faces, actually, some girls that may have done well through the end of last year that I maybe haven’t seen, or maybe over the Australian Open. But there’s always girls coming up the ranks, playing better.

There’s still all of the other girls still playing, so not too much has changed. Because the only stuff I’ve missed was the Aussie Open and the pre-season, everything else was pretty much wrapped up, so I haven’t felt like I missed out on a big chunk of tournaments. I’ve only really missed the Aussie summer. In that sense, I think that’s good too.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.

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Insider Notebook: Robson Returns

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

– Day 2 Results: Christina McHale pulled off the most notable upset of the day, beating No.41 Caroline Garcia ,6-4, 6-4, to advance to the second round. Meanwhile, three wildcards made good on their opportunities, as Lauren Davis beat Nao Hibino, 6-2, 6-4, Zhang Shuai beat Pauline Parmentier via retirement, and Shelby Rogers gutted out a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 win over Mariana Duque Mariño.

– More winners: Daria Kasatkina (d. Hantuchova), Monica Puig (d. Lucic-Baroni), Eugenie Bouchard (d. Ozaki), Tsvetana Pironkova (d. Vekic), Camila Giorgi (d. Goerges), Magdalena Rybarikova (d. Robson), Margarita Gasparyan (d. Govortsova), Zarina Diyas (d. Loeb), Yanina Wickmayer (d. Hercog), Madison Brengle (d. Doi), Denisa Allertova (d. Cetkovska).

– Laura Robson ready to move on: Robson lost to Rybarikova in the first round but there were encouraging signs in the loss. The former British No.1 says she’s been pain-free since January, the longest pain-free stint of her two-year battle with a left wrist injury that required surgery.

“It’s been the hardest thing for me to translate what I’ve been doing on the practice court to matches so I was pretty happy with that and everything else can definitely be worked on,” Robson said. “[Get back to] feeling confident enough in the rally to move up in the court, finish shots with volleys, drive volleys, getting that variation in my game. Obviously the forehand was a bit messy, but it’s all stuff that can be improved. That’s the good thing about it. As long as I’m healthy I can train as much as possible and get as much work in.”

Ranked No.551, Robson used her protected ranking to get into the main draw in Indian Wells and will use the rest of her protected ranking allotments through the first week of the grass season.

“My protected runs out in Eastbourne so I’d kind of be an idiot not to use them all before then,” Robson said. “As much as I’d like to get more matches in at the qualifying level it would be a waste not to use them. So I plan to play virtually all the clay season, Paris, and I think I’ll have one left for the first week on grass.”

A junior champion at Wimbledon at 14, the 22-year-old Brit rose to a career-high No.27 in 2013 before injuries began to take hold. Now she says she’s ready to embark on her “second career”.

“The best advice I was given was from Nick Saviano and he said I have to let the past go, in a way,” Robson said. “I can’t keep trying to have the exact same things in my game that I had before. It’s essentially a new career with a more experienced self. When I was playing at the 25 level and everything before I didn’t have years of experience behind me. So I’m lucky to get this second chance but I can’t keep thinking, ‘Oh but I used to be able to hit my forehand like this.’ That’s just not healthy.”

– Belinda Bencic turns 19: How about this photo:

– Eugenie Bouchard’s emotional win: Bouchard had a tough turnaround, flying from Kuala Lumpur after the final on Sunday to land in Los Angeles at 11am on Monday. With photoshoot and sponsor obligations to fulfill, it’s been sleepless leadup for her with minimal practice. But she battled past Japanese qualifier Risa Ozaki to win, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, and set up a second round meeting with Sloane Stephens.

“I definitely felt out of sorts on the court,” Bouchard said. “At times I felt like my tennis was awful out there. But I just tried to put that aside and keep trying to play, keep trying to play, and slowly things kind of turned around. I just tried stay in there, really.”

“I felt more emotional than usual. I felt a bit weird and off on the court. It’s one of those days. It was a difficult turnaround and a rough couple of days.”

– Readying for Venus’ return: Venus Williams returns to the BNP Paribas Open for the first time in 15 years on Friday. ESPN rounds up a variety of reactions to her decision to come back to Indian Wells.

– Steffi Graf backs Serena: Graf told AFP she’s fully prepared for Serena to break her record of 22 major titles.

“I follow it somewhat but this is somebody else’s chance and I’m happy for them. It doesn’t take anything away from what I have achieved. I’m completely at ease.”

– All hail Sania Mirza: The doubles No.1 gets the cover of Indian magazine Just For Women.

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Radwanska Rallies Past Strycova, Olympic Champ Puig Next In Tokyo

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

TOKYO, Japan – No.2 seed and defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska was one game from elimination against the always-dangerous Barbora Strycova, but the Pole turned things around to advance into the quarterfinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

Watch live action from Tokyo this week on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

“The first match is always tricky, especially at a really strong tournament like here,” Radwanska said in her on-court interview. “You’re playing someone in the Top 20, Top 30, so it’s never easy. I’m just very happy with that match; it wasn’t easy, but I was just better in a couple of points.”

Radwanska last played Strycova at the French Open, where the former World No.2 survived a three-setter on the terre battue, and it quickly became clear it would be a similar struggle on Wednesday as the Czech veteran raced out to a 5-1 lead in the second set despite dropping the first.

“I’ve known her for a long time, so I know she’s a great player with great hands. She can do everything on court, with great touch and is very often at the net. She made some incredible shots, so I’m very glad the last point was mine!”

Strycova is in the midst of a career-best season after reaching the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and came into Tokyo just two spots shy of her career-high ranking of No.19 – earned in late August. Thrice up a break in the decider, she served for the match at 5-4, but Radwanska gamely broke back and saved break points of her own in the next game to engineer victory in two hours and 16 minutes.

“I know it’s late but thank you for staying. Hopefully I will see even more of you the day after tomorrow!”

It is sure to be quite a quarterfinal match-up come Friday as the No.2 seed is set to take on Olympic tennis event champion Monica Puig; the Puerto Rican knocked out former Tokyo champion Petra Kvitova in three sets to earn her best result since becoming her country’s first-ever Olympic Gold medalist. Former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki also looms as a possible semifinal opponent, making the fight for the Toray Pan Pacific Open trophy likely a photo finish.

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Flawless Pliskova Sails Into Last 16

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA – No.18 seed Karolina Pliskova needed less than an hour to take her place in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open, producing a dominant display to swat aside former champion Ana Ivanovic.

Watch highlights, interviews and more video from Indian Wells right here on wtatennis.com!

After an even start, Pliskova’s game clicked into gear in spectacular fashion, a sequence of 10 uninterrupted games helping her to a 6-2, 6-0 victory.

Ivanovic, who lifted the Indian Wells title eight years ago, came into the contest nursing a knee injury that hampered her movement throughout. A string of uncharacteristic errors saw her broken to love in the opening game and while she drew level soon after, it was clear that her game lacked its usual zip.

Pliskova, on the other hand, was having no difficulty getting the ball through the court, forging ahead and wrapping up the set with a fierce backhand drive. The winners continued to flow in the second, the Czech eventually finishing with 18 as she romped to the finishing line.

Pliskova had won all three of her previous encounters with Ivanovic, including earlier this year in Sydney. “We’ve played a few times already and I’ve always won. But I think I played really good tennis today and I’m happy that I made [the next round] so fast,” Pliskova said.

The one-sided scoreline was all the more surprising given the players’ respective form heading into the tournament; Ivanovic had made the semi and quarterfinals in St. Petersburg and Dubai, while Pliskova had suffered a couple of early exits in the Middle East.

“Last year I didn’t lose any first rounds. Now I’d lost twice in a row so I’m just happy to have some matches and looking forward to the next one,” Pliskova added.

That next outing will come against Johanna Konta, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over No.2 seed Angelique Kerber’s conqueror, Denisa Allertova.

Also emerging triumphant from Monday’s afternoon session were Roberta Vinci and Magdalena Rybarikova. Vinci continued her fine start to the year by outclassing Elina Svitolina, 6-1, 6-3, while Rybarikova caused the tournament’s latest shock, dumping out No.7 seed Belinda Bencic, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

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