Eugenie Bouchard on Wednesday gave her first public account of the night she fell and hit her head at the 2015 United States Open as her trial against the United States Tennis Association continued in federal court in Brooklyn.
On that night, Bouchard, a player from Canada, said she told a trainer, Kristy Stahr, that she would return to take an ice bath after completing other potlatch activities, which included cooling down with stretching and fulfilling news media obligations.
When she came back, the trainers had left. She said she changed into a bathing-ready outfit, walked toward the baths, which are through the trainers’ room, and took two steps into the trainers’ room before slipping, falling, and hitting her head on the tile floor.
“‘Oh no, you weren’t supposed to go in there,’” Bouchard recounted Owens saying. Owens testified similarly on Tuesday.
Bouchard then showered to wash the caustic substance off her body and left for the evening.
Bouchard was the final witness for the plaintiff’s side. She testified for just over an hour at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, giving concise, direct answers and betraying little emotion. After describing her early-career accomplishments, which included being named WTA newcomer of the year in 2013 and reaching a Wimbledon final in 2014, Bouchard discussed her familiarity with her potlatch routine, which includes stretching, interviews, and often an ice bath.
The heavy-duty cleaning product, Oasis 299, had not been used at the United States Open before that night. HP Products, the manufacturer of Oasis 299, says contact can cause “severe skin burns” in its safety data sheet on the product.
Neither the tournament nor its employees have reached a consensus on who applied the substance to the floor, which was done just before Bouchard slipped and fell. Owens, who acted as the room’s supervisor, testified that it was another employee, Christina Simmons, who cleaned the floor under her supervision. Simmons denied this in her own subsequent testimony, saying that she was seven months pregnant at the time and not given tasks that included using chemicals.
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