Jennifer Brady has spoken about how she has not been pain-free since the 2021 Australian Open final, even after taking 698 days away from the sport.

Former world No. 13 Brady had not played in over a year and a half until her match last week against Kyoka Okamura at an ITF W100 tournament in Granby, Canada.

Whilst she began her comeback with a win, beating her opponent 6-2, 6-3, she went on to be defeated by Himeno Sakatsume in the second round 6-4, 7-6 (2). 

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Out with injury since 2021

Brady's injury hiatus began when she retired from her second-round match at the 2021 Cincinnati Open. She felt a pop in her left heel whilst chasing down a ball from her opponent Jelena Ostapenko.

This pop turned out to be a torn plantar fascia, and her troubles were later made more complicated by a stress fracture in her right knee.

Speaking to ESPN, the 28-year-old emphasized her joy to finally be back on the court,

"I'm just so happy to be back playing and competing. I wish I could have gotten more matches in before with the big dogs again, but this will only help me just test my level and see where I'm at and then I can learn and improve and get back to the practice court and work on some things and then try to get ready for the next tournament. But, no matter what, this is what I want to be doing, otherwise I would've given up a while ago."

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Still not pain-free

Despite being thrilled to be back, the American appears to be a little regretful about what could have been if she hadn't been injured, and with good reason.

In August 2020, Brady won her first WTA title, and just a month later made it to her first major semi-final at the US Open where she lost to eventual champion Naomi Osaka. Then, in February 2021, she got all the way to the Australian Open final, where she was again defeated by Osaka.

"I felt like I was starting to find my game and was so close to cracking the top 10, to do something big. Then that's when the s--- hit the fan,", she said. 

Brady made particular reference to the Grand Slam final in Australia, saying that it was the last time she felt 'pain-free' whilst playing,

"I guess you could say ... I guess, honestly, the last pain-free match that I'd played was in Australia."