World No.39 Alize Cornet is facing the prospect of being sidelined from the tour for up to six months due to a back injury.
The 26-year-old started 2016 by winning her fifth WTA title at the Hobart International. She followed up her Hobart title with a second round loss to Chinese qualifier and shock quarter-finalist Shuai Zhang. Since her defeat in Melbourne, Cornet has not played a match due to a lower back injury.
In an interview with French website ‘Tennis Magazine’, Cornet revealed that she has bone edema. Bone edema is swelling inside the actual bone. Additionally, the 26-year-old also has a bruised vertebra and an issue with one of her discs in his back.
“I have a bruise on the vertebra and also a disc that has suffered. So it will take a long time. The last three weeks I’ve spent a lot of time on tests for an accurate diagnosis. I will have between one and six months off.” She revealed.
For the foreseeable future Cornet will have to wait and see how her recovery progresses. Describing the issue as ‘a stress fracture in her back’, the 26-year-old has now been given steroids to treat the problem. The issue is also causing her trouble outside of the court, making Cornet’s everyday life tricky.
“We have to wait it out. It’s almost like a stress fracture of the vertebra. Even in everyday life, it’s not easy. I have to find the right compromise between not aggravating my back and staying active because without movement, I’ll lose my muscles and it will be difficult when I go back. But I can not play sports or run. It’s hell, especially for me with my energy to spare“. The world No.39 admitted.
Cornet achieved a ranking high of 11th in the world when she was 18-year-old. Despite failing to break into the top-10 since then, the Frenchwoman Defeated Serena Williams twice in 2014 (not counting retirements). In 2015 she endured disappointment by reaching the quarterfinals at only two tournaments on the WTA Tour.
We are both getting bored of not playing tennis #tryingtostaypositive #missitsomuch pic.twitter.com/0aQrzF7KRA
— Alize Cornet (@alizecornet) 24 February 2016
