Where is Agnes Szavay? She won’t be at Roland Garros 2012, Bastad maybe

Have you been wondering about Agnes Szavay? The former world No.13 won back-to-back WTA titles in 2010 (Prague and Budapest), and after the Seoul semifinal in September that year, the Hungarian’s results plunged. Her 2011 was very much affected by illness and back injury, she played only six tournaments where she recorded a total of just four wins. Her last match in 2011 was at Roland Garros, in May.

Szavay’s current ranking has four digits – 1115! In 2012 she finally returned to play, at the Stuttgart qualifying on clay, her favorite surface. She lost her first match 7-6(4) 6-3 to Yvonne Meusburger and even though prior to the tournament she had had great plans of competing in Budapest, Madrid, Roland Garros, and the Olympics, her wishes have faced a setback.

Here’s what Szavay said on her Facebook on April 28, after Stuttgart:

I’m happy to be playing again, and it’s great to be back on court. A lot of people were asking me how I was, what I’ve been doing and it was nice to be around the players again. Playing matches is completely different than practice, and of course my back reacts differently, and it got a little stiff already in the first set. Unfortunately it’s not perfect yet, so I’ve decided to withdraw from Madrid. I’ll be focusing on Roland Garros and I hope to be there.

Now we know that even Roland Garros is out of option. The next tournament at which we can expect to see Szavay is Bastad in mid-July.

I have been having a sinus infection for about 6 weeks now, and it seems to be serious, it was already bothering me before Stuttgart. I’m getting treatments at a hospital and I’m focusing on getting better, but in this condition I cannot practice at all, so I won’t be playing Roland Garros. I can use my protected ranking for only one Grand Slam, and I don’t want to waste it. I’m getting antibiotics at the moment, and I really hope to start training again next week, but until then, I’m trying to strengthen my lower back muscles. Roland Garros is one of my favorite tournaments and it makes me sad to withdraw, but I have to put my health first. I haven’t really planned my schedule yet, but I will probably play Bastad next.

(photos: Ralf Reinecke)