Tennis star rushed to hospital after ‘serious fall’ on the way to Wimbledon

US tennis star CoCo Vandeweghe was taken to hospital after suffering major injuries to her face following a fall at Wimbledon, with the 34-year-old sharing insight into her recovery on social media on Wednesday. CoCo, who retired from professional tennis in 2023, shared a statement to her Instagram explaining that she was back working for ESPN at the tennis competition after an unexpected hospital stay.

“Last Tuesday, on my walk to Wimbledon, I had an unexpected accident and took a pretty serious fall,” she began. “I ended up biting through my lip, fracturing my chin, and chipping my two front teeth.”

“It was a scary experience, but I’m so grateful to say my stitches are out, I got my new teeth a couple of days ago, and I’m healing well. Best of all, I’m back at work!” she continued. “This past week has reminded me just how fortunate I am to be surrounded by incredible people.”

CoCo added: “Thank you to my friend Elena, who was by my side the moment I called for help; to my mom and fiancé, Daniel, who immediately flew to London to be with me; to my EPSN family, who constantly checked in and made sure I was taken care of; and to the amazing surgeons, doctors, nurses and hospital staff who quite literally put me back together again like Humpty Dumpty.”

The tennis champion concluded her message with gratitude to those who had checked in on her and reached out during her recovery. 

CoCo later shared a carousel of photos to Instagram documenting her time at Wimbledon, where she is working with the on-air team to provide match analysis. She previously worked with the network during the Australian Open in January.

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The first photo saw CoCo being wheeled away on a gurney by paramedics, followed by a snap of her in the ambulance with a swollen mouth and chin. She then shared a picture of her in a dentist’s chair getting her teeth fixed, and a photo of her courtside at Wimbledon with a microphone in hand. 

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“Semifinals are set! Hopefully my teeth will be too,” she quipped in the caption, as fans took to the comment section to share their concern. “CoCo! We’re thinking about you,” one fan wrote, while another added: “So glad you are ok!”

“Wishing you a speedy recovery,” said another, while a fourth chimed in: “So glad you are on the mend.” CoCo enjoyed incredible success during her tennis career, having reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2015 and 2017 and won the US Open women’s doubles title alongside Australian Ash Barty in 2018. 

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The brunette beauty was forced to step away from tennis after being plagued with several injuries, including issues with her right ankle and left hand.

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“I’ve been crippled by injuries the last couple of years,” she explained to WTA Tennis after her retirement. “Tennis is tough with everything. It’s never-ending, it doesn’t stop. It was very tough to move and ask my body to do what it needed to do. And I couldn’t do it consistently. I was able to make inroads, but I was never quite the same.”

“You could just kind of feel it was time,” she added. “And I’ve always loved the competitive aspect of tennis – practice was never my thing. I would, of course, train hard, but I relished the competition. And when that wasn’t enough for me anymore, I kind of knew.”