{"id":36540,"date":"2024-01-04T00:24:43","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T13:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/?p=36540"},"modified":"2024-01-04T00:24:43","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T13:24:43","slug":"arina-rodionova-i-think-i-surprised-a-lot-of-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/news\/2024\/01\/04\/arina-rodionova-i-think-i-surprised-a-lot-of-people","title":{"rendered":"Arina Rodionova: \u201cI think I surprised a lot of people\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

At age 34, Arina Rodionova is in career-best form.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Melburnian recorded an incredible 79 match wins during 2023 and collected seven ITF singles titles to soar to a career-high ranking of world No.112.<\/p>\n

It followed an eight-month lay-off with a wrist injury, which meant she began the 2023 season ranked outside the world\u2019s top 300.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I surprised a lot of people,\u201d Rodionova said of her impressive resurgence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI surprised myself more than anyone. I\u2019m just playing really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodionova is currently the top-ranked Australian woman, an honour she is proudly carrying this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great addition to everything I\u2019ve done (in 2023),\u201d Rodionova said. \u201cI won like 70-something matches, I played so much, have career-best ranking.<\/p>\n

\u201cAussie No.1. It wasn\u2019t my goal, let\u2019s say, for 2023, but it sounds pretty good to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Rodionova edges closer to the world\u2019s top 100 in singles, there\u2019s also an opportunity to create history. A top-100 breakthrough would make make her the oldest WTA player to achieve the feat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I get there, I get there. If I don\u2019t get there, I don\u2019t get there. It\u2019s not exactly my goal,\u201d Rodionova said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll take it one match at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hard-working competitor\u2019s response highlights the mindset that is driving her to sensational new heights.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to enjoy (playing),\u201d Rodionova explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing back from the injury (and) playing low-level tournaments, it\u2019s not an easy lifestyle, let\u2019s put it that way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long and hard road to get back and I think I deserve to enjoy it a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodionova proved that approach is working well in her opening-round match at this week\u2019s Brisbane International.<\/p>\n

The wildcard entry\u00a0upset world No.42 Martina Trevisan<\/a>\u00a0to score her first top-50 win in almost four years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly don\u2019t remember the last time I enjoyed being on the court so much,\u201d Rodionova beamed after her stellar performance at Pat Rafter Arena.<\/p>\n

Her motivation to compete is reflected in her schedule, which encompassed 34 tournaments during 2023. She then travelled to India to play in the Tennis Premier League in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had like three days off, mostly because I was sick,\u201d Rodionova said of her offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played a lot of matches last year, (but) I think at this stage of my career it\u2019s really kind of helping me right now. I feel great on court.<\/p>\n

\u201cI might have to take a break sometime, maybe like March or April? (But) right now I\u2019m excited to play and I\u2019m ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodionova\u2019s next challenge is a second-round clash in Brisbane against American Sofia Kenin, the Australian Open 2020 champion. They met at Pat Rafter Arena today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no expectations,\u201d Rodionova said. \u201cI\u2019m not the favourite there. I think I\u2019m in a pretty good place to be. (I) just will go out there and enjoy the match.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At age 34, Arina Rodionova is in career-best form.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6373,"featured_media":36541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6373"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}