Former Czech tennis player Lucie Šafářová Source: Instagram/lucie.safarova
REIMS – Today, four years after the official end of her career, former Czech tennis player Lucie Šafářová will play competitive tennis at the ITF tournament in Reims, but she is not planning a full return to the courts.
The thirty-six-year-old mother of two children and Roland Garros 2015 finalist told the iSport.cz server that she wanted to play with her niece and also play before the upcoming tournament of legends in Luxembourg.
“I still enjoy tennis, but I don’t want to go back,” said Šafářová to the iSport.cz server after the response that her application for the tournament with a subsidy of 25,000 dollars caused on social networks.
Tennis family
Today in Reims, she will compete in the singles against the French Yaroslava Bartashevich, and in the evening she will play the doubles alongside Emma Dvořáček’s niece, the daughter of her older sister Veronika. Fourteen-year-old Anna also plays tennis.
“We are a tennis family and my sister and I played doubles once. Now the nieces are growing up to the age where they can play nice tennis, and I would like to play doubles with each of them and enjoy it. It was such a great event.” explained Šafářová. “Unfortunately, I don’t spend much time with the children, but I try to help them when I can. In addition, it’s a nice trip for us.” explained Šafářová, who is in France with both children.
The former fifth-ranked player in the world and doubles number one also signed up for the singles game due to the fact that in two weeks in Luxembourg, a heavily filled veteran tournament awaits her. “I’ll be playing legends soon, so I’ve started practicing a bit. So I’ll also tap singles while I’m here.” said Šafářová, who received a wild card from the organizers in Reims.
Šafářová, a native of Brno, last played a singles match on the WTA Tour in September 2018 in Quebec, where she lost to current world number seven Ons Jabeur from Tunisia. She ended her successful career in doubles at the French Open in 2019. After that, she devoted herself to motherly duties, among other things, she has a daughter and a son with hockey player Tomáš Plekanec.
On the elite circuit, Šafářová won seven titles in singles and fifteen in doubles, including five Grand Slams. In 2015, she advanced to the Roland Garros final, where she lost to Serena Williams, the year before she was defeated by Petra Kvitová in the Wimbledon semifinals. She won the Fed Cup five times and won an Olympic bronze medal in doubles in Rio de Janeiro.
Author: © List of Instagram/lucie.safarova Source: CTK
2023-10-03 06:33:45
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