Carla Suarez Navarro wants to compete at Tokyo Olympics

Tuesday, 29 December 2020 at 09:30

Two-time WTA champion Carla Suarez Navarro completed the 12th consecutive season inside the top-100 in 2019, announcing the next season as her last one before retirement.

After a slow start of the 2020 season, Carla won two Fed Cup matches for Spain over Japan and lost to Petra Kvitova in the second round of the Qatar Open, her last official match so far. Suarez Navarro was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma in August, battling with severe disease and still keeping her tennis hopes alive. The Spaniard has been working on a comeback in the gym and on the court, making plans for 2021 as she nears her chemotherapy treatment end. Carla would love to play three or four tournaments in the season ahead of us, including the Olympic Games and probably the US Open, together with some other events in the second part of the year.

"The treatment is responding, and that is reason to be happy. I am in the final phase; I estimate that there is a month and a half left. I have three chemo sessions left; then we will have to see if we do radiotherapy or not. It is a disease in principle that when it ends, it ends. It does not have to reproduce. I estimate that it should be over in February if I don't have radiotherapy.

If the door was closed, I didn't like saying goodbye like that. As time went by, I went to the gym, doing weights, regaining mobility in my arm, releasing it. One of those days I thought if I could do everything I'm doing, why can't I play tennis, which I've done all my life? I tried, with balls without pressure, with soft child's balls, and it went well; it didn't bother me.

I am monitoring it, and I am trying to play between two and three times a week. I try every time to raise the level a little more, but above all, it serves as a mental disconnection and physical activity. It is a relief, also because of Covid-19.

Read also

Kim Clijsters refuses 2021 Australian Open wild card

Tennis is grateful, and it's what I know how to do and what I like. I want to play a Grand Slam in the second part of the season, also monitoring to see if I qualify for the Olympics. If I make a list, I would like to go and be at the Tokyo Games. I also want to play some of the American tour, three or four tournaments for the entire season. Let's also see how the coronavirus issue evolves," Carla Suarez Navarro said.