Winning a first round match at a $10,000 Challenger circuit event is not often a momentous occasion, but for Russia’s Vasilisa Bardina it was a milestone achievement.
After being forced off the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour because of a lingering leg injury, it was the former Top 50 player’s first win in over a year.
The Houston Pro Tennis Classic usually attracts many of the nation’s rising junior stars, but this year, a different level of competitor sought out the tournament–and for entirely different reasons.
Instead of entering to win, Bardina was entering just to see whether she could compete. As the other players planned a full schedule of circuit events while on college break to make a few hundred dollars here and there, Bardina was trying to shake off the rust from an injury induced, unwelcome vacation.
The initial prognosis from Bardina’s doctors after she suffered a stress fracture in her right shin last year was optimistic—a little too optimistic.
“In the beginning they said I needed four to six weeks,” said Bardina a day after her big win in Houston last month. “But unfortunately, it took me longer, like six months.”
Unlike most of the women playing the Challenger circuit, Bardina has firsthand knowledge of what life is like when traveling with the big leagues. She has competed at six Grand Slams, reached the final at a Tier IV event, and considers Top 10 Russians Anna Chakvetadze and Dinara Safina among her good friends on Tour.
Her first attempt at a comeback was in January at the Australian Open, which Bardina now concedes was not a good idea.
“It was kind of a crazy idea to play qualifying just because I had not practiced since Wimbledon until the Australian Open,” Bardina told On the Baseline. “Then I decided I needed to play the Australian Open somehow.”
Bardina’s stay at the Grand Slam in Melbourne was short; she fell in straight sets to Sandra Kloesel in the first round of qualifying.
“I was not in shape. I practiced basically for two weeks before the tournament. That wasn’t enough, I realized that after my match,” recalled Bardina of the experience with a laugh.
After another few months of recovery, she headed to Houston to work with her coach, John Foster, and only happened to hear about the 10K tournament at the last minute.
“Some of my friends told me that this would be the tournament coming up in Houston,” Bardina said. “I just checked online for the last day of the deadline—and I had eleven hours before the deadline.”
Bardina’s first opponent was Australian Sarah Emelyn Starr, a player then ranked at No. 655. A year ago, Starr could not have faced Bardina because her ranking was so low that their paths would never have crossed at a Tier III or even Tier IV tournament.
Their match went to three sets before Bardina eventually edged through after a hard-fought 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-1 victory.
Bardina went on to lose her second round match to India’s Shikha Uberoi, but she proved to herself that even after one year away from the sport, the skills that led her to the Top 50 were still there, albeit a little rusty.
If she remains healthy, she will consider playing her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event at the Western & Southern Financial Cup in Cincinnati. Because of the Tour’s protected injury ranking policy, she is eligible to request a wild card.
“I’m planning to use my special ranking in Cincinnati in August,” said Bardina. “I think I’ll be a bit better and up there. I really want to play that tournament.”
After that, Bardina is willing to take her comeback one month at a time.
The US Open is out of the question because of her ranking, but if all goes well, Bardina hopes to participate in the Asian indoor events this fall.
