Elina Svitolina has been no stranger to physical and mental challenges in the last few years. The Ukrainian gave birth to her daughter Skaï in 2022 and returned to professional tennis amid the backdrop of Russia's invasion of her home country.

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Nonetheless, Svitolina found that she was still "very, very nervous" as she prepared to undergo surgery to insert two screws into her ankles last September.

"After giving birth, you would think that everything is fine," she said after defeating Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 6-1 to reach her third Australian Open quarterfinal. "But actually to have a general anesthesia scares you for the first time because you don't know what to expect. You don't know how it's going to be."

Svitolina said that her injury woes started 18 months ago with the foot issue, and snowballed. This time last year, she came into Melbourne in strong form but was forced to retire just three games into her fourth round against Linda Noskova with a back injury.

"It's all connected," she said. "After my back was hurt, I was all the time struggling with here and there pains."

Svitolina felt confident in her tennis and hankered after competitive match time, and for most of 2024 allowed that to override the pain. Her results held up, as she made the fourth round at Roland Garros and quarterfinals at Wimbledon, but now Svitolina admits that she "should have stopped earlier last year." By late summer, her body could take no more.

She re-injured her foot the week in Monterrey the week before the US Open. In New York, she scraped past Maria Lourdes Carle 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round, but was in so much pain that she couldn't walk the following day.

"I had to have a procedure with the doctors to drain the cyst out of my foot," Svitolina said. "I mean, I don't think that you do that during the Grand Slam."

Dosed up on painkillers, Svitolina somehow made it to the third round, where she stretched Coco Gauff in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 loss. But after the tournament, she had to face up to surgery -- and a new mindset.

Just as the physical issues had been connected, so too was their healing. Svitolina's foot may have forced the issue, but her time off tour enabled her to get her whole body back in working order.

"When the surgery happened in September, I had the real time to really rest," Svitolina said. "To do different procedures for my back, have meetings with the doctors, and really try to take care of it. Also, I took some time to strengthen all the parts that I had to because the season is very long. Sometimes you don't have this time to really stop and invest in your body."

Svitolina still craves competition -- "Maybe it's stupid or maybe smart, I don't know," she said with a laugh -- but is now mindful of holding herself back. Knowing every week counted in terms of regaining her strength, she opted out of tournament play ahead of the Australian Open and contested an exhibition match instead.

"It's really important for me to prioritize my body right now," she said.

After the surgery, Svitolina was as nervous as she had been before going under for it. As a player whose movement has been the foundation of her game for her whole career, she was anxious about how the screws in her ankle would affect that.

"When you are a top athlete, you are worried little bit if you can come back to the top level, if you can actually move after, or if you can brake [with] your foot afterwards," she said.

But back on court, none of those doubts have materialized. Svitolina feels she's moving well and hitting well, and a third-round upset over Jasmine Paolini -- her first Top 5 win since Wimbledon 2023 -- was a confidence-booster.

She's wary of looking too far ahead, and aware that she's still "very, very far" from her ultimate goal of winning a Grand Slam trophy. But ahead of a quarterfinal against No.19 seed Madison Keys, Svitolina's self-belief is strong -- and now, so is her body.