Casey Dellacqua has been forced to miss the start of the 2016 season in her home country after being diagnosed with Post-Concussion Syndrome.
At the China Open in October, the 30-year-old suffered a heavy fall which resulted in the Australian hitting the back on her head on the floor. The fall forced Dellacqua to end her season early and miss the doubles tournament at the WTA year-end Finals in Singapore. Despite being hospitalized shortly after the fall, she is still yet to make a full recovery. She broke the news of missing the upcoming Australian Open swing on her Twitter account.
Thanks for everyone’s kind messages ❤ pic.twitter.com/oezWkvJhGq
— caseydellacqua (@caseydellacqua) December 4, 2015
Post-Concussion Syndrome is defined as a set of symptoms that may continue for a week, month or even a year after suffering a concussion. A study has found that symptoms of a concussion are normally resolved within six months. Dellacqua’s manager, Sam Maxwell, has confirmed that it may be ‘some time’ before she returns back to the tour.
“Casey is still experiencing headaches, neck pain and is still not in a position where she is able to train to the level required to be able to play professional tennis,” Maxwell said.
“There is no timeline on Casey’s return at present, however we expect her to return to light training in the coming weeks with a return to the tour some time after the Australian summer.”
The Australian isn’t the only player on the WTA Tour recovering from the effects of concussion. Eugenie Bouchard suffered concussion during the US Open when she slipped over in the locker room and banged her head on the floor. Due to the incident, she hasn’t played a full match on the tour since the US Open. Fortunately for the Canadian, she will return to action at the start of next season in the Shenzhen Open on January 4th.
This year Dellacqua’s main success has occurred on the doubles circuit. Partnering Yaroslava Shvedova, the duo reached two Grand Slam doubles finals at the French Open and US Open. They also won the Madrid Open in April. The success has elevated the 30-year-old to a ranking high of 5th in the world in doubles with a win-loss of 35-17. In contrast with her performance on the singles circuit has been disappointing with a 2015 win-loss of 10-17, failing to reach the quarter-final stage at every tournament.
