Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova laughs off Wimbledon wild card despite Roland Garros resurgence: “Are you serious?”

WATCH: Pavlyuchenkova rallied from a set and 1-3 down to defeat Mertens and reach the Roland Garros quarterfinals.

PARIS—Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova conducted a mature, thoughtful press conference after roaring back into the Roland Garros quarterfinal, her first since sitting out much of the 2022 season to recover from a persistent knee injury. But one question had her in stitches.

“Are you serious?” the former No. 11 laughs when asks if she might receive a wild card to Wimbledon.

Pavlyuchenkova has already used her protected ranking to enter the maximum two Grand Slam tournaments, and despite a projected rise of over 200 spots in the WTA rankings after defeating No. 28 Elise Mertens in three sets on Court Philippe-Chatrier, the result has ostensibly come too soon to give her a shot of playing Wimbledon’s main or qualifying draws.

“No grass season for me this year,” declares the 2016 quarterfinalist.

Historically, this sort of result from a former top player has caught the attention of the All England Club, but given that Russians and Belarusians were banned from entering The Championships in 2022, the 31-year-old isn’t overly optimistic about an invitation.

“I can try and ask,” she shrugs after recovering her composure. “Actually, you're right, thank you. I will try and ask.

“I'll let you know in the next press conference,” she adds with some light sarcasm. “Fingers crossed.”

Pavlyuchenkova was likely still thinking of the exchange though the press conference had moved on, forcing her to admit she had completely spaced out.

“Sorry, I wasn't listening to you,” she said to more laughter from the main press conference room. “Sorry. Could you repeat? Actually, this happens to me a lot, but usually I do it with my coach when he tells me what to do on court. Sorry.”

Thankfully for Pavlyuchenkova, her focus has been much tighter in matches this week in Paris. After enduring a 6-0, 6-0 defeat to Iga Swiatek at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, she resolved to work even harder ahead of her return to the terre battue.

“I felt so good in Rome, after first match and on the practice courts, and I actually had a lot of confidence going into that match,” she recalled with a wry smile. “Then I just went off court and I said to my coach, like, ‘Am I really that bad?’ I just didn't understand what just happened.

“Then I watched that match again, and then I adjusted myself, and I said to my coach, ‘Okay, we're working on this and this and that and that. I don't like how I move, serve, how I defend, this is all ridiculous, and if I want to be on that level, we have to work a lot, like right now.’”

I knew I would come back, but how I would come back? I didn't know. I had fear and doubts that maybe I will never win a match again. Maybe I will never get my good form back or I will never be fit again. What if I start playing again and the pain comes back and my knee is bad again? But I guess this motivation and this desire of coming back and being on these big stages again...there was a lot more weight on that. So that kind of pushed me. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Those adjustments paid off in Paris: Pavlyuchenkova has planted three seeds thus far, rallying from 2-5 down in the final set against No. 15 seed Liudmila Samsonova, a set down to No. 24 seed Anastasia Potapova, and a set and 1-3 down to Mertens on Sunday.

Pavlyuchenkova will next face fellow comeback kid Karolina Muchova—who has endured her own injury struggles since reaching the 2021 Australian Open semifinals—for what should have been an improbable final-four berth for a player unable to compete at Roland Garros this time last year.

“I knew I would come back, but how I would come back? I didn't know,” she admitted. “I had fear and doubts that maybe I will never win a match again. Maybe I will never get my good form back or I will never be fit again. What if I start playing again and the pain comes back and my knee is bad again?

“But I guess this motivation and this desire of coming back and competing again and being on these big stages again and playing three-hour matches like today, you know, there was a lot more weight on that. So that kind of pushed me.”

At her 15th Roland Garros, she featured in a whopping 55 of 58 major main draws before shutting down her 2022 season—and that’s without counting a full career spent in the junior ranks. Clearly, tenacity runs in her veins.

“I think my fighting spirit and competitive spirit comes from being back in Russia as a little girl,” she mused. “I didn't have much support and sponsorships, there was nothing, so I was just growing up playing on some bad courts and my dad was coaching me.

“Since then, I felt like every match I was playing or practice or whatever, I just felt like I want to win, and I have to win to kind of keep surviving and keep going and continue playing tennis that I love.”

Perhaps uncertain of where she goes from here, Pavlyuchenkova has survived thus far—and still has her sense of humor.