FLAVIA PENNETTA BLOG. INDIAN WELLS TENNIS GARDEN 2014.

Looking back at the last six months of BNP Paribas Open 20th seed Flavia Pennetta’s career, it’s hard to imagine that the Italian had seriously contemplated retiring after the 2013 US Open. The veteran Italian has compiled a 15-7 record since that final Slam of the year, where she reached the semifinals. In January, she made the final eight in Melbourne. Two weeks ago, in Dubai, she qualified for the main draw and upset two seeds – including No. 2 Agnieszka Radwanska – en route to the semifinals. Before these big wins, Pennetta found herself in a dark place. One year ago, Pennetta fell in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open to fellow Italian Francesca Schiavone 7-5, 6-1, just another in a string of disappointing results for the player who had been ranked as high as No. 10 in the world. Her rut stemmed from the season previous, in 2012, when the 32 year old withdrew from tournaments with back and wrist injuries, the latter ailment serious enough to warrant surgery in the fall. While the occasional physical setback is a familiar presence in the lives of players, they become harder and harder to overcome. Her health had made her question how much longer she wanted to play the game. “Of course when you play for so many years, you have injuries and you come back and then you have another injury and you come back,” said reflected Pennetta, ranked 21st in the WTA Rankings. 

 “It's not easy all the time to start again, because it's look like you start from nothing. If you stop for two months or seven months, it doesn’t matter.” 
 It was that prospect of another uphill climb when the season began in 2013 that made Pennetta ponder her career. “Last year here [at Indian Wells] I was thinking to stop, and was really tough since Wimbledon,” shared Pennetta. “I came really close [to retirement].” The nine-time WTA singles champion gave herself until the 2013 US Open – two month’s time -- to assess whether she would stay on the tour. With a deadline set, Pennetta went about her business. “I was trying to find the motivation and practice and everything, and I did it pretty well. 

After Wimbledon I starting to feel a little bit better, and then since then it's everything is showing.” She credits a strong team -- her mother, Concetta, and coach Salvador Navarro – for helping her rehabilitate her tennis. “It's important to have good people around you and the people who say to you it's good when it's good, it's bad when it's bad. Sometimes we don't have these kinds of things. “I was working [through it]. I didn't stop. When everything is going in the wrong direction, you think, ‘Okay, I don't want to practice; I don't want to do this or do that.’ But if you still do it, there is one point when - you don't know why - it just happens.” And happened it did. In Flushing Meadows, with her self-assessment under way, the unseeded Pennetta went on a rampage, knocking out seeded players – including fellow Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci – before falling to Victoria Azarenka in the semifinals. 

She had reasons to stay on with her career. Pennetta continued to play well in 2014, reaching the quarterfinals at the Australian Open with a win over ninth seed Angelique Kerber. In Dubai, she qualified for the main draw and upset two seeds – including No. 2 Agnieszka Radwanska – en route to the semifinals. At the 2014 BNP Paribas Open, Pennetta is through to the quarterfinals against American Sloane Stephens, her best performance in the Coachella Valley in 12 appearances. 
She seems happy with her game, and her 14-year-old career is focused and in perspective. “I’ve worked hard, and everything is coming out in the last seven, eight months,” shared Pennetta. “I'm really happy about that.”


By Staff. bnp official