WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Karolina Muchova was sure she would be back on the tennis tour, and back at a Grand Slam tournament, at some point, no matter how long it might take after an operation on her right wrist. Well, mostly sure.
Except, naturally, when at times over the 10 months away, the doubts she was trying to ignore would creep in to the subconscious of someone who in 2023 was the French Open runner-up to Iga Swiatek and made it to the semifinals of the U.S. Open before losing to eventual champion Coco Gauff in New York in a match interrupted by a climate protest.
“Of course it was in my head a little bit. You don’t know, right? Whatever surgery it is, you never know what's going to happen. Will you ever play again or not?” Muchova said in an interview at Wimbledon, where she is scheduled to face Paula Badosa on Court 17 in the first round Monday in a matchup between two women who both have been ranked in the WTA's top 10. “So I was trying not to think about it, but somewhere deep in my head, it was there.”
Muchova is a 27-year-old from the Czech Republic who was in the midst of the best season of her career when she injured her racket-wielding arm. She wore a black sleeve on it during her match against Gauff on Sept. 7, reached that career-high ranking four days later and then did not play another match until last week's grass-court tuneup event at Eastbourne.
Surgery — her first as a pro, Muchova said — came in February. She didn't pick up a racket again until about two months ago.
“A wrist, for a tennis player, is a fragile thing. So I was, for sure, a little worried about it,” Muchova said. “You just have to trust the surgeon.”
All in all, it was a rather dispiriting process for a player with a variety-filled, all-court game who reached the Australian Open semifinals in 2021 and was a quarterfinalist at the All England Club in 2019 and 2021, before last year's successes.
“I always liked how she plays. I think she can play great tennis on all surfaces, with her pretty clean technique and being able to play topspin but slice, as well. Really mix up the rhythm sometimes on the court. So it’s nice that she’s back,” said Swiatek, a five-time major champion who is the No. 1 seed at Wimbledon. “I just hope she’s going to be healthy, because she seems like a player that is really enjoying herself on the court. When she’s ... pain-free and injury-free, she can really play great tennis.”
Muchova wound up withdrawing before the quarterfinals in Eastbourne because her wrist felt stiff after a victory there; her doctor advised her to rest. But after a few days off, Muchova said she was doing OK and planned to play against Badosa.
Here's what's different now for Muchova: She does not feel even a bit of pressure to perform. Not right away, anyway.
“My mindset is, for sure: Now I have zero expectations. I'm really happy to be part of the tour again,” Muchova said. “I think I can get back up to my level. I still feel I can be even better than I was before. You can always learn, even from bad things like injury or surgery. I'm hoping to come back as a better player. But I cannot just jump right back in where I was 10 months (ago). I have to take it slowly and be easy on myself.”
Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
FILE - Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic reacts as she holds her runner-up trophy after losing the women's final match of the French Open tennis tournament against Poland's Iga Swiatek in three sets, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Saturday, June 10, 2023. Muchova was sidelined for 10 months because of surgery on her right wrist and is making her Grand Slam return at Wimbledon. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
FILE - Coco Gauff, left, of the United States, shakes hands with Karolina Muchova, of the Czech Republic, after winning their match during the women's singles semifinals of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, in New York. Muchova was sidelined for 10 months because of surgery on her right wrist and is making her Grand Slam return at Wimbledon.. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
Wall Street veered toward losses before the open Tuesday, while oil prices rose to their highest level since mid-April, pushing shares of energy energy companies higher.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.3% before the bell and futures for the S&P 500 w fell 0.4%.
Benchmark U.S. crude rose 73 cents to $84.11 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The cost for a barrel of U.S. crude had risen almost 18% this year, though gas prices have remained relatively low compared with 2023.
Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, BP and Chevron all made modest gains in contrast to declines in the broader market.
Brent crude, the international standard, added 70 cents to $87.30 per barrel. A barrel is up 13% in 2024.
Paramount Global, which has been a takeover target for months, rose 3.1% on reports that there were multiple offers for its controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone’s National Amusements.
There is new data arriving Tuesday from the government on job openings for May. More labor market data is coming later in the week, with jobless claims Wednesday and the government's comprehensive June jobs report coming Friday.
The labor market has held up better than most experts expected after the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in March of 2022, however some softness is beginning to show. Applications for jobless benefits are trending higher in June after remaining mostly below 220,000 this year. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4% in May, despite the fact that U.S. employers added a strong 272,000 jobs last month. Job postings for April hit their lowest level since 2021.
European stocks fell significantly after the 20-nation bloc reported that inflation crept lower — to 2.5% in June — but remained stuck above the level favored by the European Central Bank.
Germany’s DAX lost 1.1% and Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.4%.
France’s CAC 40 dropped 1% in early trading. The benchmark jumped as much as 2.8% before settling to a gain of 1.1% on Monday as results from France suggested a far-right political party may not win a decisive majority in the country’s legislative elections.
That raised the possibility of gridlock in the French government, which would prevent a worst-case scenario where a far-right with a clear majority could push policies that would greatly increase the French government’s debt.
This is a big year for elections worldwide, with voters heading to the polls in the United Kingdom later this week and soon elsewhere. In the United States, pollsters are measuring the fallout from last week’s debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
In Asia, Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 added 1.1% to 40,074.69 as the weaker yen spurred buying of export-oriented shares.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.4% to 7,718.20 and South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.8% to 2,780.86 despite data from Statistics Korea showing the country’s consumer inflation slowed to an 11-month low in June.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.3% to 17,769.14 and the Shanghai Composite index edged up 0.1% to 2,997.01.
Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.6%, while the SET in Bangkok slipped 0.5%.
The Japanese yen fell to near a fresh 38-year low, reaching 161.67 yen to the dollar early Tuesday. It later gained to 161.62.
The euro cost $1.0723, down from $1.0738.
On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.1%. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.8%.
The Fearless Girl statues faces the New York Stock Exchange on July 2, 2024, in New York. Global stocks are mostly lower after benchmarks ended higher on Wall Street. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
FILE - A man walking on Wall Street approaches the New York Stock Exchange, right, on June 26, 2024, in New York. Shares advanced in Europe on July 1, 2024, with the benchmark in Paris up 2.8% briefly after the far-right National Rally gained a strong lead in first-round legislative elections. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
Currency traders work near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader passes by the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders watch monitors near the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
