Tennis players aren’t supposed to get concussions, a lawyer for Canadian pro Eugenie Bouchard told jurors Friday in opening statements for the athlete’s da♋mages trial against the managers of the US Open.
“She hit the back of her head and had a concussion,” lawyer Benedict Morelli told jurors of Bouchard’s September 2015 slip-and-fall in an Open training room.
“Concussion and traumatic brain injuries are not part of tennis,” he said, speaking in Brooklyn federal court a day after the same jury found the United States Tennis Association 75 percent li💧able for Bouchard slipping꧅ backwards on a tile floor slick ꦆwith cleaning fluid.
“She gave up a lot of money at that point,” the lawyer said Friday of Bouchard, who had to cut short her performance at that year’s tournament due t💫o her brain injury.
Bouchard, once ranked No. 5 i🦋n the world, slid steadily in the standings post-fall; she currently is ranked 116th.
“She returned to tennis, but tennis didn’t return to her,” ෴Morel🥂li said.
In his own openings, USTA lawyer Al Kaminsky noted that Bouchard had already started slipping in𝐆 the standings as other players began studying her style and learning how to beat her.
Bouchard was also still able to drum up endorওsement money, in large part due to her aggr𓂃essive social media presence, he said.
A popular repeat Sport✃s Illustrated swimsuit model,𒀰 .
Additional reporting by Laura Italiano