On her emotions during the lay-off: “I saw what I would be doing without tennis. I can’t sit at home or stay in one place; it’s just not me. You miss the adrenaline, the competition, the nerves before a match… every athlete misses this. I’m still full of energy and desire to play tennis. Hopefully, I can play many more years.”

On coming back this week: “This will be my first tournament after being out of competition for about three months, and it will be the first big test for my back. I’ve been practicing here and I’m feeling good physically, and it’s not bothering me at all. Let’s hope my back problems are done for good.”

On her expectations: “I don’t have any. I can’t come in here and say I’m going to win it. All of these tournaments in the next few weeks, it’s all a test. Doesn’t matter how I hit or where I hit the ball - just standing on the court, I’m happy.”

All this time I’ve been here in Croatia, it’s been very nice and the people are very friendly and they always want to help. I’m really enjoying it here.

During all this time I was doing a lot of biking. This was the only thing i could do to stay in shape! I was doing some shoulder and leg exercise too, so I wasn’t on the hotel bed all the time!

During this time time to entertain myself I was watching Desperate Housewifes!! I love them!!!! And I also red the book from Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol. It’s a really amazing book!!!!

And now I’m reading from Dostoevsky Crime and Prime. Also very, very interesting!!!

Well now at least I started slowly to practice, so I’m much happier being on court, and I hope that you’ll see me soon!!!

Also as I had more time I was learning how to cook!!! I really enjoy doing it, and from what I’ve cooked so far, nobody got sick, so that’s good news. However, if they liked it or not, you better ask them ;-))

In Australia I bought two books from Julia Child and I cooked mille feuille. My mother tried it and she liked it. I also did tiramisu. My parents LOVE my carrot cake. I love doing desserts, but it’s a pity I didn’t get to try  any of them yet, as I’m keeping to my diet, and I also promissed my team that from the 28th  of October until my birthday I won’t eat any sweets or chocolate. I did this because I was a little bit overweight by the end of the year, but it was the most stupid idea that I could ever come up with. Because many times I’m lying in my hotel bed and thinking about the HUGE chocolate cake I’ll eat for my birthday!! I don’t like chocolate so much, but i love chocolate muffin or cakes!!! So after my birthday, if you see me with a small belly, it means that i really enjoyed my birthday!!! Just joking!!!

Well that’s all for now. I miss all of you guys. Cross your fingers for me and you’ll see me soon.

Dinara

Hello everyone!!!! I’m missing all of you as much as you are missing me.

I’m still in Croatia doing my recovery with my physio Tomislav Vrbnjak. He is really one of the best I’ve ever had in my life and he is really taking the best care of me.

My injury from Australia was pretty bad and takes so long to heal. The problem is that I had it since Cincinnati last year, and since then had been playing all the time while on pain killers. My back was really bad there but I didn’t feel anything the rest of the season until my last match at the Australian Open.

After that match, I had an MRI and I had two stress fractures on L5S1 and a rupture on the muscle. That was the worst news I could ever hear from a doctor, but now finally I’m recovering, though not as fast as I would prefer. My physio is really taking care of me and I’m slowly starting to practice.

Hello from Monaco!

The rehab for my back is going pretty good. I’m almost fully recovered and have been starting to practice again, so it’s definitely going in the right direction. I’m feeling better and better every day, and I’m happy to be doing it in Monaco, which is like my second home, after Moscow of course. I love spending time here.

A typical day for me here is lots of time in the gym! In the morning I have to do special exercises for my lower back, then I go on the court a little bit and play tennis, then I take a nap! After that I cook some lunch for myself then go back on court again to play just a little bit more, then it’s back to the gym for more exercises on my back. As you can see I’m spending a lot of time on the lower back!

Despite the injury, 2009 was my best season so far. I’m really proud of it. I’m really happy with myself and with the job my team did - we got to No.1! I finished with my highest year-end ranking ever, No.2, won two big tournaments and one smaller one, made two Grand Slam finals… it was just amazing. It was all maybe too much for my body but I can’t blame anyone for that. I’m very happy with my year.

Looking to 2010, the most important thing is recovering from my injury and staying healthy. It’s my first priority. Right now I don’t even care how the results go, because once I’m healthy, the results will come. I want to be happy going on court and playing without pain. Hopefully I can play fully healthy in Australia and I’ll just go from there.

I’m excited about the holidays. In Russia we don’t do Christmas but we do New Year’s. I’m going back to Moscow from the 23rd to the 26th and then coming back here, so I’ll be here for New Year’s. I’m really looking forward to it. It’ll be nice to spend time with family and friends.

I want to thank you all for supporting me. I always read your comments on my website and I’m trying to recover and get fit for 2010, so I can hopefully show you all some good tennis again! I’m thankful for all of the nice things you write in, don’t give up on me. I’ll do my best!

If anyone is in Monaco you are welcome to come and see me practice, I’m here until the 23rd then I’ll be back from the 26th to January 1. I’d be happy to see you!

Have a great holiday and talk to you all again soon,

Dinara

I was thrilled to find out about becoming the new No.1 in the world.
 
It was something I’ve aimed to achieve ever since I began competing as an athlete, and I can’t believe I finally achieved it all these years later. It’s especially nice to know that Marat and I are the only brother-sister combo to achieve this feat.  

I want to thank my coach and family for all their support to help me reach this goal. It would not have been possible without them. However, I have many more goals ahead of me, including hopefully winning my first Grand Slam and many more tournaments.
 
I also want to thank all my fans. They make this accomplishment all the more enjoyable.