Article by Luminița Paul – Published on Tuesday, 03 February 2026, 19:46 / Updated on Tuesday, 03 February 2026 19:50
American player Jennifer Brady (30, former World No. 13) returned to action at a $100,000 ITF tournament after a 3-year layoff in which she endured complicated knee surgery.
30 years counted in the report and 3 breaks due to injuries that stopped a career that had just started to gain the momentum predicted some time ago.
Jennifer Bradyfinalist at the 2021 Australian Open and semi-finalist at the 2020 US Open, each time defeated by Naomi Osakadescribed his suffering in recent years on the Changeover podcast with Justin Roberts and Jody Maginley.
He talked about what went wrong with the knee problem, how difficult the recovery can be and, precisely because of this, how important the recent return to tennis is, even if it is occurring at a small level compared to the peaks of the early 2020s.
“In 2023 I had a knee injury and I'd been playing with it for a while, like putting a Band-Aid on, you know?“, she explained, referring to a popular brand of patches in the US. “Then I got to a point where I could neither play nor train the way I wanted to“.
Jennifer Brady, knee with cartilage from a corpse
Traditional treatment ran out of options, so Brady was faced with a difficult and surprising solution. “I had nowhere else to go, I had to have major surgery and a cadaver transplant,” she revealed. The intervention was intended to repair a hole in the knee joint.
“It had to be filled with cartilageJenny continued, saying that she had the option of using one of her own, but dismissed the idea.I was thinking how lucky I am, I get it from somewhere and then something comes up there and I need another transplant“, she told with a hint of dark humor.
Instead, donor cartilage was used, but even for this to happen required an uncomfortable waiting period. “I called the doctor's office and said, “Hello, I have to come for this. I've been waiting for a few weeks»“, she recalled. “And the woman answered me: “Well, I don't know if you know it or not, but someone has to die for you to be operated on.” I answered: «God, yes, I know»“.
Jennifer Brady after knee surgery in 2024 Photo: Instagram
The surgery was finally done in February 2024. The recovery was long and painful. “I had to go eight to 10 weeks without putting weight on my leg, using crutches,” she says. “It was brutal. Very hard.” He had not competed since October 2023.
Physically, the aftermath was shocking. “I lost a lot of strength,” Jennifer admitted.This is the hardest part to recover. I was wilting. My legs had no lower body strength at all. It's incredible how quickly you lose it and how long it takes to get it back“, she described the bitter revelation.
1title Jennifer Brady has on record, Lexington 2020, and another final played, Australian Open 2021. Also won a doubles tournament, Stuttgart 2021, with Ashleigh Barty
Jennifer Brady: “You get to a point where you wonder, 'Will I ever be able to play again?'”
Her return to the field was marked by frustrating moments. “There were times when I didn't even think about coming back,” she said. “I had to start from scratch several times – 15 minutes of practice, 15 minutes of play, then 30 minutes, 45 minutes – this whole progression. Then you come off the field and you have to start all over again,” he said.
Mentally, the process was even more difficult. “The unknown is probably the scariest part” Brady said. “You get to a point where you ask yourself, “Will I ever be able to play again? Will I be able to train the way I want to compete at the highest level?”“.
2021 Australian Open finalist Jennifer Brady and that year's winner Naomi Osaka Photo: Imago Images
The moment Brady got injured made it all the more difficult to accept. Knee problems first surfaced towards the end of 2021, the same season he reached the Australian Open final. “That year I had foot and knee problems,” she said. “I had a limited tournament schedule, skipped the grass season and played in pain on clay,” she recalled.
The suffering, fears and pains since then were explored in another harsh confession, offered to the NY Times in 2023 and reproduced here.
Now, after trying coaching, after seeing that he can host a podcast, he has also succeeded in returning to tennis. A discreet one, at the end of January, in an ITF W100 category tournament in San Diego, on hard, where she reached the semifinals. But it is a start. One more.
