Meet the ITF World Tennis Tour Player Panel: Petra Januskova
Last month, the ITF announced the players elected to the newly-created ITF World Tennis Tour Player Panel. The members will sit on the Panel until the end of the 2021 season and for two-year terms thereafter.
We spoke to all the players on both the men's tennis and women's tennis panels, to find out about their tennis careers to date and their hopes for what they can achieve during their time as panel members. On the women's tennis panel we have already spoken Conny Perrin and Olivia Tjandramulia .
Today it is the turn of Petra Januskova, a 29-year-old player from Canada. Januskova has been competing on the professional tour since October 2008. She has reached career-high WTA rankings of No. 628 in singles and No. 361 in doubles and has won a total of seven doubles titles on the ITF World Tennis Tour. Here's what she had to say...
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My tennis journey began when I was around four years old. With my two older sisters playing tennis, I was always around the game and naturally I picked up the racket as well. Throughout my junior tennis career, I represented Canada in the World Junior Qualifiers in Mexico and won three national titles. After juniors, I attended Penn State University where I excelled both on and off the court, before transitioning to playing professionally with very limited finances.
A couple years back, I reached my highest career WTA ranking of No. 628 but unfortunately got very ill. I was hospitalized for five months, which was a major setback in my career especially since I did not have to defend any points for the upcoming six months.
Ever since my hospitalization, it's been a challenge to replenish my points and make a full comeback on tour. Last year, I decided to attend Durham University in the UK on a tennis scholarship where I'm enrolled in a Masters degree in marketing.
I decided to run for the ITF Tennis Tour Player Panel to help players with the issues that I faced first hand. I have over 10 years of experience playing on the ITF tour and I believe that I can make an impact on the future of tennis and future generations of players. In my personal tennis journey, I faced many difficulties with very limited finances, training, and coaching. I aim to change this and hope that the organization’s structure will provide future generations with more assistance and opportunities to propel to the pro tour and transition smoother to the WTA.
I am very excited to represent the players and allow for everyone’s voice to be heard. My goal is to be approachable and understanding of players’ setbacks, changes, and ideas on how we can make the ITF a better experience for everyone who loves the game.
During my time on the panel, I hope to have an impact on shaping the sport I love for the future of generations of tennis.