Dinara Safina didn’t mince words when asked about the claims that her back injury was caused by “overtraining,” ripping that notion as “stupid.”
Just a month after celebrating her 22nd birthday, the Russian made her maiden Grand Slam final at the 2008 French Open. In the next 12 months, she went on to make two more Major finals at the 2009 Australian Open and the 2009 French Open, as well as reach the world No. 1 ranking position.
But then, Safina’s promising start to a career was halted by a serious back injury. By the end of 2009, the former three-time Grand Slam runner-up was already in what she described as “crazy pain.” While she tried to find a solution, nothing worked out and now it has been 14 years since she played her last pro tennis match.
Over the years, many theories were thrown out regarding the reasons behind the Russian picking up such a serious injury and being forced to call it a career so early.
Safina on the claims that being ‘overtrained’ led to her injury
“Overtraining? Well, that’s stupid. I wasn’t the only one. That’s also the case – sometimes all sorts of commentators like to write about overtraining. We’re either undertrained, if you lose, or overtrained. There’s no middle ground. I don’t know. It probably just happened that way,” the 38-year-old told sports.ru.
At the 2010 Australian Open, Safina easily won her opening three matches and was examined by a doctor there and told that everything was “fine” with her back. But then, she retired in the first set of her round-of-16 match against Maria Kirilenko.
“I felt that my back was starting to hurt. And during the match, there was just terrible pain. I had a muscle tear and a stress fracture,” the former world No. 1 said when recalling the Kirilenko match.
In the same interview, Safina also confirmed that she played through pain and discomfort for quite some time before deciding that was it.
“About a year and a half. From the end of 2009 until May 2011, when I finished,” she said.
Tennis World USA