Luisa Stefani’s last year has been like a roller coaster ride, one of those fast and very radical ones. Alongside Laura Pigossi, the athlete won the first Olympic medal in Brazilian tennis by winning bronze at Tokyo-2020. Months later, in the US Open doubles semi-final, the tennis player tore a ligament in her right knee and was out for a year.

There is nothing psychological that remains intact with this sequence of events: Luisa was in the process of conquering dreams, climbing towards the pinnacle of her career when, suddenly, she fell on the New York court floor. The 26-year-old put structure in place to help him recover and one of his favorite activities was watching tennis matches with friends, including Bia Haddad, who is having a good season.

“Everything changed after the bronze in Tokyo. From there to here, a lot of things happened. Obviously, I think the Olympics were a great boom to realize a dream that seemed very distant and to experience very strong emotions . The sense of courtship, conquest and also the very big Brazilian hug. It was a childhood dream. Shortly after my injury, so it was also another big change in my life in every way : routine and learning about myself. I had to deal with the ecstasy of the Olympics and the bottom of the injury”, explained Luisa.

Resilience is the word that can sum up the daily life of the São Paulo tennis player after his injury. Luisa resumed her guitar lessons, caught up on her series, watched documentaries and watched tennis matches. But it wasn’t just any game. The athlete felt better cheering on a friend or someone she knew.

“At the Australian Open in January, even when I was in the early stages of my recovery, I looked and I wasn’t like, ‘I want to play’. It was because I was physically not I was in no condition to play. I went there for the sixth month, when I was fine, but I still couldn’t. In Australia, I wanted Gabriela Dabrowski (Luisa’s ex-double) to win to have more matches to watch, because for me it was much easier, more pleasant and better to watch the matches of people I knew. I watched Bia Haddad a lot. Wow, Bia helped me a lot there in this recovery: in the championships she continued to win, to go through phases and I applauded a lot”, he recalled.

As well as cheering on during her recovery, Luisa says Bia’s wins are also important when it comes to cheering on women’s tennis. Bia was a runner-up at the Toronto Open two weeks ago and became 15th in the women’s world rankings, the best position for a Brazilian tennis player – between men and women – since Guga. The feeling with her friend’s triumphs is the same as what Luisa understood when she won the Olympic medal alongside Laura.

“Bronze helped everyone take off in the direction of really believing. It was really cool to feel that everyone used the achievement in a really positive way. And that will continue to happen. Bia, make that boom now , I’m sure motivates me when I return to compete and encourage the girls who play and the new generations. I think that’s how women’s tennis survives and grows,” commented Luisa.

All new

As Luisa mentioned at the beginning of the conversation, everything changed in her life after winning the Olympic medal, including sponsorships. Even out of combat, the athlete had new partners like she had never had before. The tennis player, who lived for many years in the United States, decided to return to Brazil and set up a new team with coach Leo Azevedo, physiotherapist Ricardo Takahashi and psychologist Carla di Pierro. In addition to the injury, the athlete suffered from the loss of her grandfather and therefore felt that she needed the support of her family and vice versa.

“I was planning to come back to the United States in February, and I ended up staying here, enjoying the physical therapist and the whole team. I also became closer to the family. My grandfather passed away earlier this year and it really affected how I deal with the rest of my decisions,” he said.

“Being in Brazil was a welcome that I needed. I was able to enjoy each phase a lot and see the improvement with my new team. I had the support of the doctors of the Brazilian Olympic Committee and that was very important “Without a doubt, the people here were the deciding factor for my return. It was a year of great uncertainty and I needed it. It was another big change, but little by little everything started to fall into place. in place and I’m very happy with the decision”, concluded Luisa.

The other novelty is Luisa’s duo for the next competitions. The Brazilian has entered into a partnership with the Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski, who since the end of 2021 had already signed an agreement with another tennis player for the following season.

From now on, the young woman will have the Japanese Ena Shibahara as a new duo. “When I got injured she was one of the first to text me, not only has she gotten better and stuff, but recently she told me a bit about her plan for next year . I thought that was really cool because it was very uncertain weather for me.” , commented the Brazilian tennis player

Shibahara is 24, was born in the United States and played college tennis at UCLA College in California, but has been defending Japan on the World Tour since 2019. Until January this year, she entered into a permanent partnership with Also Japanese Shuko Aoyama, but the team split after the Australian Open and she has played most recent tournaments with American Asia Muhammad.

iconic return

Luisa’s big comeback will be the week of September 19, in Tokyo, at the WTA 500, the city in which she won the Olympic medal. And to make the comeback even more meaningful, the Brazilian will go to the United States to train for the US Open.

Luisa came to occupy the position of world number 9 in November last year, but, without competition, she lost most of the points she had and today she is only 99th in the ranking. After the US Open, when her points for the 2021 campaign are deducted, the Brazilian will no longer appear on the list.

“I’m very excited. The choice to go there was mainly to go back to training with the girls who are in the rhythm of the game, to get in the mood, to settle down? Is that where I feel I’m hurt, so I wanted to go there, I will have the opportunity to train with the best, to watch the tournament, to see Bia who plays a lot.