Kim Clijsters reveals Karolina Muchova worked with her past osteopath following her elbow surgery as the Belgian tennis legend is happy to see the Czech being healthy and doing well.
If you can recall, Muchova made her maiden Grand Slam final at the 2023 French Open, reached her first WTA 1000 final the same year in Cincinnati, and was also a US Open semifinalist.
While Muchova enjoyed a great 2023 US Open, she also sustained a wrist injury at Flushing Meadows that year. Initially, the former world No. 8 didn't think it was something too serious. But then, she missed the rest of 2023 – as well as the start of 2024 – before undergoing surgery on her right wrist in February 2024. She was out of action for 10 months before finally returning.
Clijsters, a former four-time Grand Slam champion, says Muchova gathered a team of specialists around her to fix and treat her wrist issue.
Clijsters: Muchova came to my hometown to work with my former osteopath
"She had wrist surgery in 2024, and then worked with a specialist in the Czech Republic who also operated on Petra Kvitová. After that, she came to Belgium – to my hometown, Bree – to work with Sam Verslagers, who was also my osteopath and trainer. He’s become a go-to person for wrist issues. Kei Nishikori worked with him, Zizou Bergs has, and I did my rehab there as well," the Belgian tennis legend said on the Love All Podcast.
Two years after undergoing wrist surgery, Muchova clinched the best result of her career after becoming a WTA 1000 champion in Doha last week. She is also back to No. 11 in the world.
"She’s also a great mover. She defends well, but from a defensive position she can suddenly become dominant. For her, the biggest challenge has been staying healthy and building physically over time. It’s not easy to come back from injuries and start from zero again – that can be frustrating," Clijsters explained.
Muchova opted to skip this week's Dubai tournament so her next event should be Indian Wells.
