Sam to have scans after painful defeat
SAM Stosur hopes to contest Wimbledon despite needing more tests on her injured right hand after her shattering French Open defeat.
Stosur said she was unable to use her twin strengths – serve and forehand – to full effect after the sixth game of the first set in a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 loss to Latvian teenager Jelena Ostapenko.
The Gold Coaster will have more scans but is optimistic about being fit for Wimbledon and the Eastbourne lead-up event.
“I’m still hopeful. I didn’t do anything to it, so I’m hopeful that it’s nothing too serious,” Stosur said.
“I’m still planning on sticking to my schedule but until I know what it is, I can’t really say anything.
“I had an ultrasound the other day. Nothing really showed up but I’ve got to go get some sort of scan either tonight or tomorrow and find out what it is.
“Because it hasn’t got better at all since it started.
“My hand’s been sore for about three or four days since the day I played doubles here.”
Stosur said she was troubled by the injury late in the opening set against Ostapenko.
“From 5-1 in that first set, it was just really, really painful and just, yeah, wasn’t going away,” she said.
“It’s just every time I impact or grip my racquet, swing it on that side, it’s just been really, really sore.”
Stosur was frustrated at not being able to employ her feared serve-forehand combination.
“Every forehand and then started to hurt my serve,” she said in response to question over which strokes were compromised.
Stosur surrendered the Australian No.1 ranking to Daria Gavrilova as a result of the loss and probably won’t be seeded at Wimbledon – if she is able to play.
Stosur’s loss to Ostapenko ended an eight-win streak which included claiming the Strasbourg Open final last week.