USTA sued by Eugenie Bouchard over concussion 'caused by slippery substance' in locker room at US Open

Eugenie Bouchard is suing the United States Tennis Association following an accident which forced her to withdraw from last month’s US Open. The 21-year-old Canadian, who has not played since the incident, alleges negligence by the USTA after she hurt her head when she slipped and fell in a locker room. Under a lawsuit filed in Brooklyn, Bouchard is claiming unspecified monetary damages. She says she has continued to suffer physical problems as a result of the fall.

Bouchard, who reached the Wimbledon final last year, suffered the injury after entering a physiotherapy room inside a locker room at Flushing Meadows at around 10pm, having played in a mixed doubles match earlier in the evening. She slipped and fell on the tiled floor and hit her head, causing concussion.

“Ms Bouchard entered the physiotherapy room of the women’s locker room when she was caused to slip and fall by a slippery, foreign and dangerous substance on the floor,” the lawsuit says.

Bouchard’s lawyer, Benedict Morelli, told The New York Times that the substance was a cleaning agent. He was quoted as saying it was supposed to have been left on the floor overnight while the room was out of use. “They should have closed the door and locked it off,” Morelli told the newspaper. “They didn’t do that.”

Bouchard, a former world No 5, claims her injuries “were caused solely by the reason of carelessness, negligence, wanton and willful disregard” on the part of the USTA. She alleges that the organisation did not keep the locker room in a “safe and suitable condition” because it had failed to maintain, clean and repair the floor.

The fall left Bouchard with a “serious head injury” and concussion. She withdrew from the tournament, where she had reached the fourth round with her best sequence of results since January, and subsequently pulled out of last month’s Wuhan Open in China, in which she had been runner-up last year. Last week she retired midway through her first-round match against Andrea Petkovic at the China Open in Beijing, complaining of dizziness. She has also withdrawn from two other tournaments.

Having experienced a difficult year following her breakthrough season in 2014, Bouchard had fallen to No 25 in the world rankings by the time of the US Open. She has not played since the year’s concluding Grand Slam event and has subsequently slipped to No 39. It is all a far cry from last year, when she reached the semi-finals at the Australian and French Opens and made the final at Wimbledon before losing to Petra Kvitova.

The lawsuit, which notes Bouchard’s fall in the rankings, requests a jury trial and unspecified damages. “We could be talking about millions and millions,” Morelli told The New York Times. However, he added that it was not currently possible to put a figure on the claim because Bouchard was still experiencing symptoms following the accident.

Chris Widmaier, a spokesman for the USTA, chose not to comment on the case, saying that the governing body would not discuss ongoing litigation.