Bethanie Mattek-Sands will return to the United States on Sunday for surgery on her right knee following her fall against Sorana Cirstea at Wimbledon on Thursday.
The doubles world No.1 revealed she had suffered a dislocated patella and ruptured the patellar tendon at the start of the third set of the second-round singles match, which left her in considerable pain and distress on Court 17.
Fighting back the tears, Mattek-Sands took to Facebook to give her followers an update and thank them for the outpouring of support she has received from players and fans alike over the past 48 hours.
“It’s obviously been an emotional and painful roller-coaster the last couple of days,” she said. “I didn’t get a chance to really comment on what happened because I was carried off the court and right to the hospital.
“I know you guys have seen the video of the replay, and I for obvious reasons have not looked at it. I hate watching sports injuries on TV, let alone of myself.
“But it was in the middle of my match, and playing that last point, I was coming to the net, and all I remember is hearing this pop in my leg, and everything was kind of slow after that, it was just this loud pop, someone even told me I was hit by the ball, that Sorana hit, I just don’t remember, I just remember trying to take a step, my leg not being able to hold me and I went down.
“I remember my knee being really tight, I took a look at it and something was wrong, and I thought maybe if I could adjust it, something looked so wrong about it, and I knew it was either dislocated or broken, and at that point I kind of freaked out.”
Mattek-Sands, who was bidding to complete a non-calendar Grand Slam of doubles titles with Lucie Safarova, apologised for her language as she lay on the court in agony, comforted by husband Justin as the medics treated her.
“It was that painful,” said the American. “It was probably one of the most painful injuries I’ve had, and I’ve had a few in my career. I was out there for a while, it felt like an eternity to me.
“I remember everyone getting ready to straighten my leg, and I said If anyone straightens my leg I’m going to kill you – I think that was heard. I did say that, because I was in pain, because I thought they would adjust my leg on the court and I said I want to be knocked out in hospital before they do it.
"I made the WTA trainer, Carole was out there, promise me that no one was going to straighten my leg.”
The Olympic gold medallist was visited in hospital by Safarova, Cirstea and Sania Mirza, and thanked compatriot Jack Sock, with whom she won the mixed doubles title in Rio, for writing her name on his tennis shoes for his match on Friday.
Mattek-Sands found it tough to talk about the injury and the prospect of surgery and rehabilitation, but the 32-year-old said she had every intention of returning to court as soon as possible.
“I’m a pretty positive person,” she said before signing off. “I’ll get back out there.”