VESNINA Elena

General
COMEBACK FROM RETIREMENT
She retired from tennis after competing at the 2018 French Open and gave birth to her daughter Elizaveta during the same year. She then decided to return to the sport in early 2021. "The WTA kept emailing me, 'Elena, do you want to protect your ranking?' I'd say, 'No, I'm not going to come back, it's OK' and they were like, 'Elena, you're number one in doubles and top 50 in singles. It's a really good ranking'. I said, 'OK, go on, protect it', but I was not thinking about coming back. I was so focused on the baby, on the family. Then, whenever I saw Shamil Anvyarovich [Tarpishchev, president of the Russian Tennis Federation] he would start a conversation, reminding me of my frozen ranking and that I wouldn't have to start from the bottom. Every time I saw him he piqued my interest. Andrei Chesnokov, my former coach, also made me think about a comeback. He said, 'You know, Lena, I left the sport early, at 32, and then I regretted it. Do not repeat my mistakes'. I love tennis and it's better to try and maybe fail, than never try and always wonder what might have been for the rest of my life." (eg.ru, 16 Mar 2021; wtatennis.com, 04 Mar 2021)

MIXED DOUBLES PARTNER
She says that she sees it as her role to provide mixed doubles partner Aslan Karatsev with a boost to his self-belief. The Russian duo played together at the 2021 French Open, where they reached the final. "I have a great partner and I'm really enjoying playing with Aslan. He's always so serious, and I'm a little bit more relaxed on the court. He is a very, very quiet guy. He's doesn't talk a lot, and keeps a lot of things inside, including his feelings and his thoughts about his game. I try to relax the atmosphere a little bit. I tell him, 'You are so much better than everybody else on the court here. Just play your game. Just go with the flow. It's your game and you're playing great'. I try to give him that self-belief." (atptour.com, 08 Jun 2021)