The Most Famous Glass Injury in the History of Tennis?
Most tennis watchers, even fanatically avid ones, would tell you that the most famous glass cut, or at least the one made most popular, is Serena Williams’s injury, sustained after her Wimbledon victory earlier this year. As a consequence of this injury,
Williams has dropped out of every tournament after the Grand Slam in Britain, and as of yet has not confirmed her return. Her rankings are apt to suffer sooner or later, if she does not return. World Number 1 Serena Williams herself has projected the injury
as severely debilitating; however, in tennis history, there is one other such glass cut wound which had more dire consequences than that of Williams’s wound, resulting in a devastating Davis Cup loss for the United States of America.
On 18 May 1906, American reigning singles champion Beals Wright and his Davis Cup team were scheduled to sail to England to participate in the tournament. Wright was his team’s best hope, having won both singles and doubles titles at the US Nationals the
previous year. His previous matches at the Davis Cup had also been exemplary, with defeats of Norman Brookes and Tony Wilding.
One day earlier, they had spent the night in Brooklyn, New York, at the Crescent Athletic Club. Waking up in the morning after a celebratory see-off, Wright called room service for soda water. The bottle was sent but a bottle opener was missing, so Wright
tried to jam the cork of the bottle down into the neck. This backfired magnificently, and the bottle broke and pieces of glass lodged themselves into his right hand, injuring it severely.
Wright was himself a left-handed player, so he chose to “grin and bear” the pain (reportedly quite severe), after medical attention. He refused to drop out of the tournament despite medical advice, primarily because the United States team relied on him to
be its saving grace. The day after this injury, he travelled on the White Star line ship
Celtic, albeit with his hand heavily bandaged. The New York Times carried an article reporting, “He said as his playing hand was his left, he did not look for any handicap when he came to compete in the matches for the Cup. He believed that
the week at sea would put all of the team in the best sort of condition and he was more hopeful of success this year than he had been a week ago.”
These hopes were shattered during the week Wright and his team spent on sea, where his hand became infected, posing a very real threat to his life. The immediate consequence of this was his prompt withdrawal from any and all matches of the 1906 Davis Cup.
It also, more unfortunately, resulted in the amputation of his right hand’s forefinger six weeks afterwards. However, Wright recovered from this incident, returning to play top level tennis that same year in August. He also reached the US singles final that
year, and won the US doubles titles while partnering with Holcombe Ward.
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