Martina Hingis has been ruled out of Wimbledon after it was revealed she will be sidelined for at least six weeks following ankle surgery. She underwent the operation on a torn ligament in Switzerland on Monday.
Hingis had already been ruled out of next week’s French Open and, with Wimbledon less than five weeks away, she looks set to miss a second grand slam. Dr Heinz Buehlmann, who carried out the surgery, will wait for the swelling on the joint to go down before making a more definitive assessment.
However, he said: “She will need at least six to eight weeks of rest to help the healing process. The operation went well and I am very pleased. But if the inflammation persists, the prognosis will not be good.”
There had been fears that the injury could end her career, but Buehlmann was confident that would not be the case. He repaired ligaments in her ankle and removed a bone spur in her heel. Neither of those injuries nor the operation itself was considered serious, but Buehlmann is worried that the 21-year-old Swiss player may have inflammation in the heel bone.
The inflammation of the kind that Buehlmann is worried about is difficult to treat and even harder to shift. It also has a nasty habit of recurring.
Serena Williams has her problems too, having recently had the unwanted attentions of a stalker. A 33-year-old German, Albrecht Stromeyer, who is accused of stalking the American, was arrested on Saturday at the gates of the Foro Italico after security staff said they recognised him from a photograph that had been posted around the tournament. He was extradited back to Germany so that police could charge him there.
Stromeyer is said to be obsessed with both Williams and her older sister Venus and to have stalked them for more than a year. According to reports, he attempted to enter a players’ area last week at the German Open in Berlin to talk to Williams but was stopped, which is why security in Rome was on the alert.
Williams said she still felt safe despite Stromeyer’s attentions, but added: “Security is something very important for all of us.”
There is no denying that. Nine years ago Monica Seles was stabbed in the back in an on-court attack in Hamburg by a man who was obsessed with Steffi Graf.
Williams showed no signs of distraction and plenty of concentration as she beat the Belgian, Justine Henin, 7-6 6-4 to win the Italian Open.
With the French Open starting on Monday, Williams could scarcely have picked a better time to win her first clay-court title and she could not resist a mild dig at those who fail to rate her chances on the terre battue in Paris.
“A lot of people insist I’m not a clay- court player,” she said, “but I am. It makes me feel really good, especially going into Roland Garros. I’m definitely looking forward to doing well there.”