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Donna Vekic, 26, revealed in Netflix's tennis documentary that Maria Sakkari and Ajla Tomljanovic offered words of encouragement when she was contemplating retirement in 2021 Indian Wells. In 2021, Indian Wells was held in October and not in its usual mid-March date.
That year, Vekic suffered a three-set defeat to Astra Sharma in her Indian Wells opener. At the time, it was Vekic's fifth consecutive defeat. After the 2021 Australian Open, Vekic had surgery on her knee and when she returned to tennis in June, she was still feeling her knee and she wasn't doing really well with her results.
Vekic opens up on the time she was in a really dark place
"I think it was two years ago in Indian Wells, when Indian Wells was played in October. I lost in the first round. I had been struggling a lot. I still had pain my knee.
I saw Ajla and Maria after my match and I was like I just cannot keep doing this. I cannot keep playing at this level. I was really struggling that whole period. And that match was kind of like the lowest probably I've ever been.
And you guys were like no, this time next year you're going to be in a much better place. Don't give up. Your tennis will come back. We know that you have the level and that helped me a lot," Vekic revealed in Break Point, via Tennis-Infinity.
Now, Vekic is healthy and doing well. At the start of the 2023 season, Vekic made her second Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open. Also, Vekic won Monterrey earlier this year and she is now ranked at No 23 in the world.
This week, Vekic is competing at a WTA 500 grass event in Berlin. On Wednesday, Vekic stunned world No 3 Elena Rybakina 6-7 (1) 6-3 6-4 in the Berlin round-of-16. Overall, Vekic is now in a much better space than she was two years ago.