By Saumojyoti Singha Choudhury, IANS
Bangalore : Coming back after a two and a half year break during which she went through three surgeries is not an easy task. But for the Croatian tennis player Sanda Mamic, who last featured in a WTA tournament way back in 2005 in Slovenia, the journey has begun. And it started with a 6-2,6-2 win over Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei at the Bangalore Open Wednesday.
Forced to stay away from tennis courts, Mamic is now determined to make the most of her return from the career-threatening injury on her left arm.
“It all started with pain in my left arm, but still I continued playing. When it became unbearable I consulted doctors at home, and other places, but no one was able to detect the problem. At last an Austrian doctor detected that the problem was with the nerves of my arm and advised me to undergo surgery,” she recalled.
“Thereafter I had three surgeries on the arm,” she said.
Mamic, who broke into the top 100 in the WTA rankings in July 2005, reached a high of 83 in the list, before the pain and the resultant lay-off had her even think of quitting tennis to concentrate on a career in information technology, which happens to be her other passion.
Mamic has a degree in IT from the University of Technology in Zagreb where she is presently working.
“During that time (injury) I thought that everything was over. Then I got a job in the university, so I had to make a decision whether or not to continue tennis,” she recollects.
However, on the advice of her brother Mirko Mamic, who is also her coach, she decided to give tennis one more go. “I had a discussion with my brother and he advised to try another season.”
“When I won the match I thought, Oh! My God I can still play!
“It’s just that if you don’t ride a motorcycle or a car for years, you are not sure whether you can ride it again or not. That is what was going through my mind when I stepped onto the court here,” Mamic told IANS.
The 23-year-old Croat was quick to admit that she is still not in the best shape and can play much better then what she is doing currently. But these are early days.
Her next opponent will be a more daunting one, as she takes on top seed and world No. 4 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia. But for the present, Mamic is enjoying her comeback to tennis and the first round win is an added bonus.