Wimbledon semi-finalist Donna Vekic says she “did not want to play tennis” little over a month ago – but now she is celebrating the best Grand Slam run of her career.
Croatia’s Vekic, 28, moved into the last four by ending New Zealand qualifier Lulu Sun’s dream run with a 5-7 6-4 6-1 win.
Vekic’s powerful brand of tennis has teed up a meeting with Italian seventh seed Jasmine Paolini, who won 6-2 6-1 against American 19th seed Emma Navarro, for a place in the Wimbledon final.
Vekic has struggled with injuries and, speaking after her quarter-final win on Tuesday, revealed she threatened to stop playing before May’s French Open.
“I didn’t have any energy, any motivation to keep practising and keep pushing,” said Vekic, who is ranked 37th in the world.
“I felt like the last couple months I’d given everything for tennis and I wasn’t getting the results that I kind of expected.
“It was a very, very tough moment.”
Under the Court One roof, Vekic fought back against Sun to continue her incredible turnaround and form on the grass courts.
After she was convinced by her team to play at Roland Garros, Vekic moved into the third round before relinquishing a lead and losing agonisingly to Serb qualifier Olga Danilovic.
Vekic, who almost retired because of a knee injury three years ago, reached the Bad Homburg final before heading to Wimbledon.
“It’s crazy how in tennis things can turn so fast,” she said.
“I think not just in tennis, in life things can turn pretty fast.
“That loss in Paris was so, so painful. But it motivated me again to keep working, to keep pushing.”