She is a two-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist, triple WTA tournament winner and has been repeatedly thrown back by a series of injuries and illnesses. Now, about one and a half years after a regular tour life, 27-year-old Tamira Paszek is returning to the WTA circus this week at a small tournament in Wiesbaden. Finally painless again and full of hope.
“There have been scary moments when I felt very down and thought: That’s not me,” Paszek admitted a few weeks ago in an interview with tennisnet. “Now I’m glad that time is over.”
Paszek has been through a martyrdom. After a combined almond, sinus and maxillary sinus surgery at the end of October 2016, the woman from Vorarlberg believed that chronic problems had been solved. But only then did the ordeal really begin: Paszek may also have suffered from trigeminal neuralgia, a painful nerve disease of the face, caused by this operation.
“I probably started a little too early, everything went well during the operation and nothing was broken. It may be that everything was not completely healed,” Paszek recalled in an interview with the APA.
She made a comeback in two tournaments in early 2017, but had to give up in both games. After that, the world’s former number 26 withdrew. “It was really extremely painful, so it was relatively easy for me to decide to end 2017. I knew that the disease could remain chronic and of course I didn’t want that, a lifetime of pain was more important to me,” explained the Dornbirnerin.
Posted vacation photos were therapy. “I’ve been on the road a lot on doctor’s recommendation, a lot in the warmth and the sun.” During this time she had to take strong medication. “It was very dangerous, I wasn’t allowed to do any sports for four months. I had a tachycardia from the stairs because of the medication. It was really scary and not funny. I’m glad that I got this under control relatively quickly in a few months,” Paszek looked back on this difficult phase.
She did not want to hear anything about tennis for about nine months. “I wasn’t looking at results or news, I needed the distance, too. “I also saw the disease as an opportunity to change my life.” She wanted to find out what else she enjoyed, after all she had been playing tennis since she was 12 years old. “That was quite all right, it also helped me a lot to rediscover the joy and just see the whole thing from a different perspective.”
Actually, the Vorarlberg woman wanted to start training again in autumn 2017, but then a tumour of nerves between her toes on her right foot was discovered via MRI, which had to be removed last November. The plan to return to Australia in January 2018 had to be rejected.
Paszek says that the nerve disease on the face is “relatively well under control”: “It depends on the weather. In winter it is very sensitive to cold, when it winds, I notice it extremely.” However, she is now spared medication.
Over the past three and a half months, Paszek has been preparing intensively for her new start in Bucharest. “I felt better and better from week to week and really had fun training. The body went along with it. Now I said I’d accept the wildcard in Wiesbaden for singles and doubles,” Paszek looked forward to her return to the scene where she reached the final four years ago.
In the singles round Paszek will face the Ukrainian Katarina Zavatska, currently number 273 in the world rankings. In doubles she will meet Anita Husaric (Bosnia-Herzegovina)/Emma Laine (Finland) with the German Laura Schäder on Tuesday.
Until April 2019 Paszek still has a “protected ranking” of 199 for only eight tournaments. It is therefore important to use this small starting advantage wisely. But Paszek sets himself small goals for the time being. “I’m curious myself, where I stand and how things are going. I see the whole thing relatively relaxed,” she says.
She hasn’t been listed in the WTA ranking for a long time, so it’s a second career. “I start from scratch. That’s an extra incentive, I’ve never had such a long break.” At the age of 27, she is in the best physical condition and wants to play for a few more years.
“I have goals and dreams that I would like to realize, and I don’t want to stop simply because the body no longer plays along.” But at first only one thing counts for Tamira Paszek: “Just to stand on the pitch again without having to think about your body all the time. Just focus on match and opponent and fight.”
She only wants to draw up the next tournament schedule after her first experiences and also does not want to play it every week. “I want to give head and body time to reconnect.” If things go up as hoped, her good memories are also motivation for more. “Getting one or two titles to the top again would be a dream,” Paszek said.
The fact that, despite her long break, Austrian women’s tennis still suffers, not even a top 100 player has appeared for a long time, Paszek only has a rudimentary explanation for this. “It’s not like playing against someone who’s at 400 or 500 anymore, and you know I can sort of tick off the round. Anybody can play.”
If her body holds, Paszek could still be expected to return to the Top 100. “Of course it is also one of my motivations to crank up or mix up Austrian tennis a bit. It would be nice if more youth could come along and we could step on the gas again in the Fed Cup.”