Maia Lumsden revels in comeback from long Covid after UK Pro League triumph

Maia Lumsden admitted she had no real expectations heading into the UK Pro League after completing a remarkable recovery from long Covid to triumph in Saturday’s Week 4 final at Warwick University, writes Oli Dickson Jefford.

The Glasgow ace, 24, is returning to the sport after an 18-month layoff and marked her return with a red-hot week that resulted in a hard-fought victory over Marni Banks in the final.

Lumsden won three ITF singles titles and reached a career high of 250th in the WTA Rankings in October 2019, having made her WTA Tour debut at the 2019 Nottingham Open that summer.

But after initially displaying mild symptoms after contracting Covid in October 2020, Lumsden found herself bedbound and embroiled in a gruelling battle with the virus.

Her first match back ended in a narrow defeat to Banks in the pool stage of the event in Warwick – but she decisively reversed that result with a 6-2, 3-6, 10-4 win in Saturday’s final.

The Scottish star said: “It feels amazing.

“Before I didn’t really have any expectations in terms of results. My goal was to just manage the five matches and hope I was going to feel fine through it. To get a win is such a nice bonus.

“It feels great to be back playing after such a long time. I’ve really missed the feeling of competitive matches so to be playing all these matches this week is a great feeling.

“To come through them and be feeling okay is a massive positive as before the event I guess I wasn’t sure exactly how I’d feel and how I’d react.

“Overall, it’s been really positive to get all these matches this week.”

It was difficult for Lumsden to know just how she was going to play on her return, though she was left encouraged by what she was able to produce in the first event of her comeback.

But she understandably remains cautious about her long-term return to life on the ITF circuit, with a return to the world’s top 250 her overarching target.

She added: “I think the stuff I’ve been practising, some of it came out on court which I think is positive.

“Also, the fact that I’ve not played in 18 months and am still at a decent level, I’m most pleased with that as I didn’t know what to expect, or where my level was going to be at.

“I’m just taking every day and every week at a time. We were seeing how this week went before planning the next steps, but I hope to start playing ITFs the next few months, there’s lots on.

“My overall goal is to climb back to where I was and hopefully go higher.”

With nearly half a million pounds of prize money up for grabs across the season, all the thrills and spills are broadcast live on BT Sport, The Tennis Channel and UKproleague.tv. News and updates across the season can be found at ukproleague.com