FIRST, it was a career-threatening ankle injury and then a divorce but the strong-willed Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia has overcame those testing times to continue her career on the WTA Tour.
Jarmila suffered a bruising ankle injury at the 2009 US Open but the 24-year-old made a splendid return several months later by winning her second career title in Sydney in March, 2010.
And in April last year, the World No 45 and former husband Samuel Groth decided to go separate ways.
“I broke my ankle in the US Open three years ago and it was a very serious injury. I needed surgery to get it repaired,” said Jarmila at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian & Country Club yesterday.
“I felt then it was the end of my career but thankfully, I managed to get back to full fitness to resume my tennis. And for prevention, I strap my ankle whenever I play as I do not want the injury to recur.”
Jarmila, who has won two career titles, came back from one set down to beat Germany’s World No 184 Kathrin Woerle 1-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-5 to qualify for the second round of the BMW Malaysian Open. She plays Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou in the second round.
It was a morale-boosting first round victory for Jarmila, the last year’s semi-finallist of the event, following her first round exit in Dubai last week.
“It was really easy making a decision to come back to this tournament. I was delighted when I received as wildcard entry for the tournament.
On the match, Jarmila said: “It was a weird first set but I tightened my game and hit some winners in the decider to win the match.”
