Perth, Australia - Hospital scans have revealed that German
Nicolas Kiefer suffered ligament damage during a match injury on
Thursday at the Hopman Cup but could still pull up fit for the
Australian Open beginning January 19.
Doctors who treated the 31-year-old expressed cautious optimism
that the former number four might just be able to make it to the
first Grand Slam date of the 2009 season from January 19.
An MRI scan at a local hospital showed that the German suffered
damage, but has a good chance of recovery. 'He's still a chance for
the Australian Open,' said Hopman Cup boss Paul McNamee. 'That's what
he's aiming for.'
Kiefer fell victim to the worst possible luck as he suffered his
freak mishap while leading Slovakia's Domink Hrbaty 3-1.
Kiefer was watching an Hrbaty return sail out over the baseline
when he put his weight wrongly on his ankle, crumbling to the court
in agony.
It was the experienced Hrbaty - back from 2008 elbow surgery and
also carrying a heavy cold - who directed first aid efforts among
apparently confused medical personnel at the venue.
'I told the chair umpire to call for some ice and told the first
aid people that they should raise the ankle and use the freezing
spray to immobilise it,' he said.
'It's happened to me before, I suffered this kind of an injury in
the Australian juniors once. If the ankle swells up and you can't
move it, that's not good.
'With injuries like this, the most important thing is the first
couple of minutes, because you don't want to get swelling there and
blood there.
'Then it heals much, much tougher.'
USA
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