Lucie Safarova hopes Qatar Open can help her rebuild

Lucie Safarova has been through one of the most frustrating spells in her career but the 29-year-old Czech is hoping that a return to familiar territory here at the Qatar Total Open can help her to rebuild.

Safarova, who has been suffering with a bacterial infection for the last six months, will make her first appearance of the year here at the tournament where she enjoyed her biggest triumph 12 months ago. The world No 10 beat a succession of top names – Sam Stosur, Ekaterina Makarova, Andrea Petkovic, Carla Suarez Navarro and Victoria Azarenka – to win the title last year.

It proved to be the launch pad for an excellent summer as Safarova went on to reach her first Grand Slam final at the French Open before losing to Serena Williams. She also reached the fourth round at Wimbledon and the final at New Haven, where she suffered an abdominal tear while losing to her compatriot Petra Kvitova.

It was after the latter loss that Safarova’s problems multiplied. She lost to Lesia Tsurenko in the first round of the US Open and on her return to Prague was in hospital for a week with a bacterial infection, which she admitted was “a little scary”.

Having qualified to play in the WTA Finals for the first time, in both singles and doubles, Safarova was determined to play in the season-ending competition, but she lost first time out in her two warm-up tournaments and in Singapore won only one of her three round-robin singles matches and one in doubles. Her lone singles victory, ironically enough, was over Angelique Kerber, who went on to win the Australian Open three months later.

In the close season Safarova fell ill again and was forced to miss the Australian Open, but she says she feels better now and is hoping that her health issues are finally behind her.

“I’ve been struggling for a long time,” she said. “I've been improving a lot lately. I've been here for two weeks training. I feel good. I feel back to where I was and I'm excited and I can start here in Doha again.”

She added: “I have been out for a long time with a sickness. It's been a while since I've been on court. For me, the most important thing is to have a good start, a good match, and we will see where I can go. We will take it step by step.”

The Olympic Games is a major target for Safarova this year but she knows she faces stiff competition from her fellow Czechs. There are six of her fellow countrywomen in the world’s top 100.

“I would definitely like to go to the Olympics,” Safarova said. “There are a lot of Czech girls fighting for the spot because we are a very strong tennis country, so we'll see who will qualify.”

Safarova needs to retain her title this week to avoid dropping further in the world rankings, but faces a tough task. Seven of the world’s top 10 are here. The only absentees are Serena Williams, who has been suffering with flu, Maria Sharapova, who is injured, and Flavia Pennetta, who is hanging on to her ranking despite the fact that she retired at the end of last year.

“The Doha tournament has always had one of the strongest draws of the year,” Safarova said. “I've played here quite a few times here and every match is always tough.”