Lucie Safarova enters the French Open as the reigning singles finalist and defending doubles titlist, but simply playing the tournament is now a big achievement for the Czech.
Safarova has been plagued by injury and illness ever since the hard-court season, winning hardly any matches until recently. She experienced an abdominal strain going into the U.S. Open, and then suffered a bacterial illness that sidelined her until the indoor season.
She won just one match in four tournaments to close out 2015, and then withdrew from the Fed Cup final with a wrist injury, which was eventually diagnosed as part of a reaction to the illness. That prevented her from doing significant physical activity for an extended period. Returning in Doha in February, she did not win a singles match until taking the title in Prague.
She then got food poisoning the following week.
But returning to Paris has brought positive memories, as Safarova dropped only two games in a 6-0, 6-2 first-round victory over Vitalia Diatchenko.
"I'm just really happy to be playing, and to be here,” she told reporters following the victory. "It's nice to be back here ... Playing on the same courts, [it] brings a lot of nice feelings."
But the former world No. 5 is not putting any pressure on herself to repeat her performance from a year ago.
"I know I’m defending the finalist],” [she told *Sports Illustrated* before the tournament. “But I also know that there was a big possibility that I wouldn’t be able to play at all. It’s been a tough trip to get to this point. I’m just happy that I’m on the tennis court.”
She optimistically noted that she’s finding her game again.
"Winning in Prague was a huge step for me," she said. "I finally feel like I’m back to my old self."
Safarova is the No. 11 seed at Roland Garros.