Eva Lys excited for return to Germany as injury concerns become less prominent: "I'm pain-free, which is also something that we didn't expect"

Eva Lys has not lived up to the hype in 2026. Her game was getting noted by many, and an imminent rise seemed right around the corner. However, injury problems have halted any form of progression in her game as she looks to get back to her best level.

If she is going to do this anywhere, then the Stuttgart Open would be an ideal tournament for this. Located in her native Germany, Lys shared her ecstatic feelings about returning to compete in a competition where she feels at home.

"Definitely. I feel like that's the first thing I said whenever I came outside the car. I feel like home, which is great," she told reporters. "We have a couple, but we don't have that many opportunities to play in Germany. So every time I come back, the team, the WTA, the tournament, especially Porsche, make me feel like I'm at home. So I really enjoy coming here."

Clay is relatively synonymous with being an outdoor surface most of the time, but there are indoor clay events dotted around the WTA calendar. The Upper Austria Ladies Linz recently took place in the same setting. Lys opted not to traverse the German border into Austria to compete there, focusing solely on her ambitions in Stuttgart.

The indoor scenery is one she is fond of. "I mean, I love indoors in general. I feel like I had always a couple of good results indoors. So coming back to clay indoors is definitely a very fun week for me."

She has already commenced her clay swing on the green clay in Charleston, a very different type of surface compared to what she experienced in Europe. She will not only have to adjust to the red clay, but to the fact that she is making a return to indoor action.

"The clay court is a little bit different than the outside clay courts, so you definitely need a little bit of adjustment," she explained. "For me, coming from outside to indoors is quite easy. I think it's going to be a little bit more tricky to go from indoors outside again, but this is a topic for later. I always feel very good on this surface."

Lys had a lot of hype surrounding her name coming into 2026. She lived up to it at the United Cup in her debut campaign with Germany. However, a knee injury has really halted her progress on court. After losing the Australian Open first round, she would remain on the sidelines until the Miami Open before traversing to Charleston. Lys would lose at the opening hurdle in both those tournaments.

These events were a good chance to see how the knee coped back on court, not wanting to risk anymore damage. "My team, especially the close people around me, knew that the first matches especially in Miami and Charleston were just like a big test to the knee. I had to come back to Germany and just check if everything is fine, if the knee was able to, yeah, sustain in good condition, which it did."

Now pain-free, Lys will be hoping to march on as she searches for sme momentum and match sharpness. "So we all know that for me, due to my body, it always takes a little bit longer to really find my match physique," she said. "This is what I'm doing right now. I'm pain-free, which is also something that we didn't expect to be coming that early, because the doctors said that it would take a lot longer."

The 24-year-old is happy to be out again on the court with the work being put in. "So I'm just super thankful to be on court again. I'm practicing, I'm putting a lot of work into be back in the form I want to be, but it will definitely take a couple of weeks to actually get into the same condition I was before. But overall, I'm on a good path."

Something noted by many around the Lys game is that she is very efficient with her ground strokes, able to muster up a lot of power from them. This certainly caught the eye of two-time Grand Slam champion Coco Gauff who was in full praise of her playstyle at the baseline with great ground strikes.

Lys felt like this was a definite strength surrounding her game, particularly on clay. "I feel like my court position is a strength in general," she stated. "This is something I really try to work on a lot. Especially hitting with big players like Coco, I find it very hard to keep the position, so every time I get an opportunity and possibility to play or practice with players like that, it definitely helps my game."

Not just Gauff, but many people are in awe of her expertise at the baseline. "So for clay, this is one comment I get from so many players, 'How the hell are you staying that close to the baseline? I have been playing like that my whole life. I feel like that's also a reason why I feel very comfortable on hard court and on clay, because I also grew up on clay, and this is my way of playing. So I'm definitely trying to work on the strengths I have on that surface."

Lys will get her campaign in Stuttgart underway with a tricky test against an out-of-sorts Paula Badosa. The Spaniard has also endured injury troubles this year, meaning a win for either player will be a huge step in the right direction.