Stosur Recovering After Ankle Surgery

Written by: Staff on 31st December 2012

Stosur Recovering After Ankle Surgery

epa03413232 Samantha Stosur of Australia returns forehand shot against Nadia Petrova of Russia during the semifinal of the Pan Pacific Open tennis in Tokyo, Japan, 28 September 2012. EPA/KIMIMASA MAYAMA |

Samantha Stosur will need a major comeback effort as the top Australian begins her season after ankle surgery in the off-season. The No. 9 and former US Open winner had a bone spur removed and had to lay low for three weeks of recovery, interrupting her training regime.

Stosur revealed her condition only as 2013, saying she only begin practicing last week and has yet to do any serious running. Her first event will be this week in Brisbane followed by Sydney prior to the January 14 start of the Australian Open.

“There’s no ideal time to do something like that but obviously it had to be done,” she told local media in Queensland. “I thought about all the different times I could get it (surgery) done, but this was the best opportunity because you don’t want to be out mid-year for something like this.”

She is making no predictions for the Open, where she has never done particularly well, stalling at the quarter-final stage. “I’m trying to play and do as best I can, these first couple of weeks are going to be a great test.

“It’s nice to not be having the pain and the problems I had the last few months of the year. As time moves on, it’s going to be the best decision I could have made.” Stosur begins in Brisbane against Swede Sofia Arvidsson, whom she beat on the way to the US Open title in 2011.

©Daily tennis news wire

Topics: ankle surgery, Australian Open, Samantha Stosur, Sofia Arvidsson, Sports, Tennis, US Open