“There were a lot of times I was at a complete stop, didn’t really look like a pro tennis player” - Jennifer Brady on her comeback struggles

Jennifer Brady has shed light on her struggles to make a comeback to the WTA Tour after being sidelined for almost two years with multiple injuries.

The last time Brady featured on the tour at a competitive tournament was at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati in August 2021. She retired against Jelena Ostapenko in the second round due to a foot injury that later required surgery. The former World No. 13 was set to return to action earlier this year. However, another foot injury further delayed her comeback.

It has been a painful wait on the sidelines for Brady, who was in good form before she got injured. The American reached the semifinals of the 2020 US Open and the final of the 2021 Australian Open.

Brady finally made her tour return after 731 days at the Citi Open in Washington on Tuesday, August 2. She defeated Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina 6-2, 6-1 in the opening round.

After the match, Brady spoke about her time away from the spotlight and all the hurdles she faced to return to the court.

“[It took] a lot of time [to get back here]. There were a lot of times I was at a complete stop. Didn’t really look like a pro tennis player. I lost a lot of my skills, muscle mass.. it took a lot of patience,” she said.

“I'm pretty happy with the way I came out, handled my emotions, stayed true to my game plan, and was able to come out with a win. Tennis is a part of who I am, and I hope I never lose that. I'm happy to just be out here competing with the best,” Brady added.

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Jennifer Brady to face Madison Keys or Zheng Qinwen in Citi Open 2R

Jennifer Brady is currently ranked World No. 1056.

After nearly two years on the sidelines, Jennifer Brady returned to action at an ITF World Tennis Tour $100,000 event two weeks ago, where she reached the second round.

On her return to the WTA Tour at the Citi Open this week, Brady looked at her vintage best as she won in straight sets against Anhelina Kalinina, who was the runner-up at the WTA 1000 event in Rome earlier this year. She needed just 68 minutes to defeat the Ukranian 6-2, 6-1.

Brady broke Kalinina's serve six times and won 10 of the match's last 11 games from 2-2 in the first set. The American hit 20 winners to Kalinina's 16 and only made 16 unforced errors, while the Ukrainian totaled 26.

It was Brady's best win by WTA ranking since her run to the Australian Open final in 2021, where she finished as runner-up to Naomi Osaka.

Brady will next face either 2017 US Open finalist Madison Keys or last year's WTA Newcomer of the Year Zheng Qinwen in the second round in Washington.