By: Hanna Qian
Even when the big success came, it was never easy for Jennifer Brady. Jennifer made her breakthrough during the 2020 US Open with no one sitting in the stands, reaching the semifinals. The next year in Australia she made it to the finals, after spending two weeks in lock down because of Covid-19.
The last match she played was in August 2021 in Quebec, losing in straight sets to the 223rd ranked Japanese player. After her big success, she was gone from the tour for two years because of chronic foot and knee injuries that put her in a dark space. In 2020 and 2021, while Brady was in a dark space, she was just wishing to chop her left foot off. As Brady is looking forward to coming back, she tries to get back to work.
Brady was supposed to come back during the French Open in May, but she ended up getting a bone bruise in her right foot. With her current comeback, she has said that there are a lot of opportunities on the women’s side. She no longer has a personal coach, but she does have a physical therapist traveling with her. But since she’s working on her comeback she also works daily with the head of women’s tennis at the USTA, Ola Malmqvist.
Brady is scheduled to come and play on July 31st, 2023 to play her first match back for the DC Open. Since she hasn’t been playing for a while, she has a protected ranking that will allow her to get into 12 pro-level events. She plans to use one for the US Open next month.
Brady has had a tough couple of seasons because of injuries and setbacks. All fans will be looking forward to her comeback and can’t wait to have her back playing.