Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova kept the TV off during 2022 Roland Garros, returns strong in ‘23

FLASHBACK: Pavlyuchenkova endured a tough test from Iga Swiatek in Rome earlier this month.

PARIS—Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was absent from the 2022 Roland Garros draw, but that doesn’t mean she stayed home.

“I was actually in Paris during French Open,” she admitted with a smile after storming past Linda Fruhvirtova, 6-2, 6-2 on Monday

“My friends fly to Roland Garros to watch me normally, so they’d planned it, and I withdrew at almost last minute. I stayed with them, and we did a lot of things that we wouldn't be able to do.

“They actually said, ‘It's funny, we're actually happy you're not playing!’ Because then it's like normal and we been completely outgoing and doing things.”

This proved a much-needed distraction for the former world No. 11, who had dreamed of defending her runner-up finish from the year prior. Instead, she was forced to shut down her season last May to heal a persistent knee injury.

“It was actually painful a little bit,” she said of her decision to watch the tournament on TV. “I just wanted to disconnect from tennis completely and wasn't really following much at all.”

After a fun French interlude, Pavlyuchenkova got to work on addressing her injury with the hopes of returning early the following season.

“There was a lot of rehab, but most importantly, I had to skip practice,” she explained. “I just had to stop because every time, obviously, on impact I had a lot of pain.

“I didn't touch my racquet for I think five months. They didn't let me. Like, the doctors, I was begging them to just let me sit on the chair and hit some balls. My doctor in Munich told me, ‘No, no, no, I know how you guys do it. You sit for two minutes and then five minutes after you are running.’

“There was not a lot of physical activity, to be honest. I was completely out of shape mid last year. In November, slowly I started to finally do something.”

Though she returned in time for the 2023 Australian Open, it wasn’t until last week that she began hitting her stride, reaching the Internationaux de Strasbourg quarterfinals with a win over Melbourne semifinalist Magda Linette.

Up against an in-form Fruhvirtova to kick off her Roland Garros campaign, it could have been a paralyzingly surreal moment for Pavlyuchenkova, who was once played the role of hotshot teenager to perfection as a former junior standout. Instead, the 31-year-old blitzed the Czech teenager in 70 minutes flat, striking 26 winners in total.

“I just said to myself, ‘Okay, look, if I want to be back to my good form and winning, I mean, I have to go and keep winning. I have to work and win matches and show that, okay, I'm there.’”

The more she wins, the more Pavlyuchenkova has the chance to show off the improvements she’s made in practice.

“I mean, every girl is hitting so hard,” she exclaimed. “In Australia I was so late on every ball, and I was, like, ‘Damn, I'm so, so far away!’

“I said to my coach, ‘Look, I know I'm 30-plus now and not 18 anymore, but I am still open to changes basically because I know me coming back this year, I could feel the difference skipping almost a year off, the level of women tennis is pretty high and incredible.’”

Those improvements will likely come in handy in a primetime second round against on-fire countrywoman Liudmila Samsonova, who dropped just one game against Katie Volynets on Sunday.