At just 19 years old, Nastasja Schunk climbed to 143rd place in the tennis world rankings in August 2022, fueling the DTB’s hopes of finally having a future top player in its own ranks. Then a serious injury followed – and slowly but surely the arduous journey back.
In 2022, Nastasja Schunk was in the main draw of the French Open and the All England Championship in Wimbledon. The signs for a great career were good. However, persistent shoulder problems repeatedly slowed Schunk down, and in December 2022 it was ultimately clear that only an operation could fix the problems. The DTB talent had to put the racket aside for the time being.
Schunk only returned to the tour in mid-October, but in Hamburg the 20-year-old had to admit defeat to Yana Morderger in round one after a tough fight with 4:6, 7:5 and 3:6. However, Schunk gave an idea in November in Antalya that she could soon move back into the top regions of the world rankings.
After failing in the semi-finals last week to eventual winner Valeriya Yushchenko, the German will soon have the chance to take revenge on the Russian at the next W15 event.
Tennis hope has a long way back to the top
Schunk, who fought her way through the qualification without any problems, swept the Romanian Sabina Dadaciu (number 997 in the world rankings) off the court in the first round with 6:0 and 6:1. A narrow victory followed on Thursday (6:3, 1:6 , 6:1) against Vittoria Modesti from Italy (number 1090 in the world rankings). Yushchenko awaits again in the quarterfinals on Friday.
The opponents in Antalya are of course not the big ones that Schunk already competed against. However, after her long break, the Mainz player herself is currently under scrutiny and has to fight her way back step by step. If she manages to win this week, she would at least move back into the top 1000.