Melbourne, Australia, 17 May 2024 | Leigh Rogers

Storm Hunter is feeling upbeat, despite the long road to recovery ahead of her.

The 29-year-old Australian, who is currently the world No.3 in doubles, ruptured her right Achilles on the practice court during a Billie Jean King Cup tie in Brisbane last month.

It was a devastating setback for Hunter, who had just achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No.114 and was excited to participate at the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games.

She underwent surgery four weeks ago and is now recovering at home in Melbourne.

“I’m pretty good, to be honest,” Hunter told tennis.com.au after sharing words of wisdom to participants at Tennis Australia’s National 11s Camp this week.

“I’ve felt very supported and loved. Not just by the Aussie players and the Australian team, but a lot of players on tour have reached out and sent me messages of love and support.

“The tennis community in general have been really lovely. A lot of fans and people have been checking in too, which has definitely made this time a lot easier.

“Obviously it’s still hard to process what has happened and how long the recovery is going to take, but so far everything is going well.”

Hunter expects her rehabilitation to be “quite slow”.

“I’m in the moon boot for at least three months, so that means not much exercising I guess,” she said.

“I’ll do a little bit of gym, but I’m also trying to work out what I want to do and achieve this year, which is obviously not going to be on the tennis court.

“I’m looking at a few different opportunities and trying to see what I want to do outside of tennis. I’m definitely excited to explore some other things that I can try to do in this time.”

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