Even before two deeply unpleasant days in her Madrid hotel room, Lucie Safarova, last year’s surprise French Open finalist, had had enough.
There had been a powerful bacterial infection followed by a debilitating condition that was slow to be diagnosed and turned out to be reactive arthritis. There had been weeks in a Czech hospital bed, months without running, much less hitting a tennis ball.
When Safarova finally made it back to the WTA Tour, where she had only recently become a main attraction, there were five consecutive opening-round losses in singles, the first four in straight sets.