Olympic champion Vesnina will return to competition at the WTA tournament in Indian Wells

Olympic champion Elena Vesnin said she plans to team up with compatriot Anastasia Potapova to compete in the WTA tournament in Indian Wells, which will take place in March.

The Russian tennis player announced the resumption of her career in December 2023.

— A professional athlete cannot be an ex, the body needs activity. And as soon as I started training, my body said “thank you”.

— Did I understand correctly that the ranking is frozen and allows you to participate in tournaments?

“At first I didn’t know and thought he was already lost. I didn’t play in 2022 due to injury, I sent my MRI to the WTA, they recorded everything. Then the pregnancy. And then I decided to write to them to find out how things were going. But I still have a grade, they told me which tournaments I can participate in. I originally set myself the goal of playing in Doha and Dubai, but you can’t fool your body. I don’t fly to Doha anymore, and probably not to Dubai either. After Miami, the sinusitis started. I am not able to earn points. So I decided not to force myself and to come back gently.

— Which tournament will be first?

— Indian Wells then Miami. We will play with Nastya Potapova.

– What’s the next plan?

— Rouen 250 category in France, if I have time to return from the training camp in Turkey. There I will prepare the ground and I will certainly take my children with me. In France I can play alone, but I don’t want to make mistakes or overload myself yet. Then Madrid and Rome in doubles. Of course, Roland Garros. And on grass, I want to play in Birmangen and Eastbourne. And then there is Wimbledon itself. I haven’t looked further yet,” Vesnina said on the Telegram channel “Tennisology”.

Vesnina, 37, won gold at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in doubles with Ekaterina Makarova and also became a silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics in mixed doubles with Aslan Karatsev.