Eugenie Bouchard is suing the USTA over her fall at the US Open. The Canadian has filed a lawsuit against the USTA over that fall which gave her a concussion following her third round win at Flushing Meadows over Dominika Cibulkova.
In the lawsuit, Bouchard said that a “slippery, foreign, and dangerous” substance caused her fall getting out of the ice bath. Also in the lawsuit, Bouchard claims that the USTA was negligent and should have known about the substance and seeks unspecified damages. USTA spokesman Chris Widmaier has refused to comment on the litigation.
The backstory
The story has been highly publicized since it happened, but for all intents and purposes, it must be told. The Canadian met Dominika Cibulkova in the third round of the US Open looking for her third straight win, which would have a feat she would have achieved for only the second time this year. She won that match in three sets and won her mixed doubles match with Nick Kyrgios that day.
After that was when she was alone in the ice bath then slipped and fell. That weekend she was diagnosed with a concussion after cameras followed her into the Billie Jean King Tennis Center walking slowly with sunglasses on. She was unable to play her fourth round match against Italian Roberta Vinci, eventual runner-up to champion Flavia Pennetta.
Bouchard was hoping to return to Wuhan, but the concussion symptoms continued to show up so she withdrew from the event. Last week in the China Open, the former Wimbledon finalist returned to the courts against Andrea Petkovic. She retired in the second set after dizziness occurred, which is a sign that she has not fully recovered from the concussion. The Canadian also withdrew from her event in Hong Kong this week.
What Does This Mean
The Canadian suing the USTA is the first major lawsuit to rock the tennis world in sometime. The most notable lawsuit that changed the sport of tennis was when the Bryan Brothers took on the ATP to save doubles from near extinction. They fought these changes, “The 2005 dispute centered on rule changes that the ATP said would encourage more high-profile singles players to enter doubles. Only players with singles rankings would have qualified to enter doubles events. The ATP also wanted to cut back on the length of matches with scoring changes like no-ad scoring, tiebreakers at 4-4 and a third-set supertiebreaker. The so-called doubles enhancements, scheduled for 2008, would have effectively phased out doubles specialists.”
This lawsuit may not cause the same impact that the Bryan Brothers had, but if she does win it will ensure better safety protocols around the locker rooms and ice baths. It also ensures better concussion protocols since Bouchard was still playing after showing symptoms of dizziness in Beijing. Over the course of this lawsuit, it will be compelling to see how both parties go about fighting this case.