Dr. Mark E. Pruzansky
Dr. Jason S. Pruzansky
975 Park Avenue New York, NY 10028

Former World #1 Ana Ivanovic Loses Due to Wrist Injury

Dr Pruzansky | June 28, 2016

In life and athletics, timing is everything. Unfortunately for former world #1 tennis star Ana Ivanovic, now ​i​s the worse time of the year to be hampered by a wrist injury.

Wrist injuries are common in tennis​ players​ and Ivanovic, who lost on day one ​at Wimbledon ​in straight sets to an unheard of Russian competitor​, had be dealing with nagging pain in her right wrist for the past two weeks affecting her ability to properly place her shots.

​”​It was very hard to accelerate on my forehand. I tried to do everything possible to be fit and recover and tape it and so on.​ ​But, yeah, it was a little bit sore. I feel like it caused me a lot of miss-hits.”

​The full extent of the injury is still unknown, but an MRI and other medical tests would reveal if the wrist pain is a result of extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU) tendinitis or possibly an ECU subsheath tear.

The wrist motions of tennis put a lot of strain on the ECU tendon and the subsheath, which is a ligament that stabilizes the tendon. Immobilization, anti-inflammatory medication, and hand therapy are generally the initial treatments for this type of tennis injury.