Karolina Muchova's journey from near-immobility to Eastbourne quarterfinals

Czech Republic’s tennis star Karolina Muchova has opened up about the difficulty she faced during her wrist injury. The 27-year-old stayed out of action for 10 months because of suffering a serious wrist injury.

Muchova underwent surgery and finally returned to the court just in time to prepare for the third Grand Slam of the year—Wimbledon 2024—where players from all over the world will compete to showcase their talent and claim the ultimate prize.

Muchova was recently quoted in a report about the difficulty she faced in recovering from that injury. The Olomouc-born star revealed that for about 10 weeks, she could not hold anything in her injured arm.       

“I had six weeks like full wrap up to the shoulder so I couldn’t move it any way and then I had three to four more weeks up to just the elbow,” she said. “So it was like 10 weeks in all, I couldn’t touch [a racket]. I couldn’t brush my teeth or put a shirt on. It was a funny, not funny, time. At the time I couldn’t so I for sure had two, two-and-a-half months without the racket."

Muchova is currently participating in the Eastbourne International where she has already booked her place in the quarterfinal. She cemented her spot in the round of 16 after being awarded a walkover in the first-round clash against Elina Avanesyan. In the second round, Muchova defeated Magda Linette of Poland in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-1.

She will now face American Madison Keys in the last-eight clash. The 29-year-old cemented her spot in the quarterfinal after beating Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina in the second round in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-1. It will be the only second meeting between the two in professional tennis. In the only meeting between the two, which was during the first round of the China Open back in 2019, it was Keys who came out on top in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 7-6.