American tennis player Melanie Oudin said that she’s not sure when she will begin her 2014 season since she’s been advised to take a break from tennis after contracting a muscle-damaging condition.
The 2009 US Open quarterfinalist said the condition caused her arms to swell. She’s been advised by her doctor to limit her training to just an hour of running per day. She’s also not allowed to do any weightlifting and/or swinging the racket.
The 22-year old has been making a lot of progress before she contracted the medical condition. She’s now sure that she will skip the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand which begins on December 30. She’s also not sure whether she’ll be fit enough to compete at the Australian Open 2014 tournament which begins in the second week of January.
“My arms are so weak. I can barely carry anything. I have no strength at all,” Oudin said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Thursday. “My muscles are completely ruptured in both arms. The good thing, though, is no other part of my body is affected.”
Oudin was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis two weeks ago. This condition may happen due to intense exertion.
The Marietta, Georgia-based player is currently training in Boca Raton, Florida.
“We did a pretty hard lifting session, upper body for about an hour and a half. … It was too much for me, too soon, because I hadn’t done lifting in too long. I also guess I was a little dehydrated — that’s what the doctors think. And so my muscles were starting to break down,” Oudin said.
“It’s going to take time. No one really knows exactly how long,” Oudin said. “But I’m definitely not going to take a chance of getting this again. If I try to do too much, I could get it again; the recovery time could be twice as long.”
“Hopefully,” she added, “I’ll come back stronger than before.”
