Eugenie Bouchard has withdrawn from the US Open women’s singles after suffering a concussion in a locker-room accident, the tournament director David Brewer has confirmed.
Bouchard, the 25th seed, is understood to have slipped after returning to a darkened changing room following her third-round mixed doubles win alongside the Australian Nick Kyrgios late on Friday night. The Canadian, who had battled to a three-set win over Dominika Cibulkova earlier in the day, apparently lost her footing on a wet floor, falling backwards and injuring her head and elbow in the process.
On Saturday, Bouchard withdrew from the women’s and mixed doubles events on medical advice. But with medical evaluation ongoing, she had hoped to recover in time to face the unseeded Italian Roberta Vinci in the fourth round the following day.
TV cameras captured Bouchard entering Flushing Meadows on Sunday; wearing dark glasses and a hoodie, she was walking slowly and had her head bowed. Few onlookers will have been surprised when she subsequently cancelled her scheduled practice sessions and announced she would not be continuing in the singles.
“Eugenie Bouchard is withdrawing from the women’s singles competition at the 2015 US Open due to a concussion,” said Brewer in a statement.
After a chequered season, and with a quarter-final place up for grabs, the accident could not have come at a worse time for Bouchard. She arrived in New York without consecutive victories since March and having lost in the opening round at both the French Open and Wimbledon.
But her successful negotiation of two close matches in succession - tight three-setters against Cibulkova, a former world No10, and Slovenia’s Polona Hercog - suggested she was close to recapturing some semblance of the form that carried her to last year’s Wimbledon final as well as the last four at the Australian Open and Roland Garros.
