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She’d just posted the first upset at the U.S. Tennis Association Women’s 75 Indoor with an extremely hard-fought 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 victory over longtime friend and former doubles partner Louise Russ, the No. 3 seed in the tournament.
It was a performance that left even her vanquished opponent gushing.
“Boy, I’ll tell you,” an equally exhausted looking Russ said to no one in particular. “Louise is back!”
It’s been a long and painful road back for Owen, who’ll turn 79 later this year.
Just three years ago at this very tournament, which also combines the women’s 65 and 85 championships, Owen’s tennis game was at a peak after winning the USTA Women’s 75 Clay Court Championships in Houston. She arrived in Overland Park a favorite to win the second “major” of the year in her age group.
But one misstep changed all that. While staying at a local player’s house, Owen slipped and tumbled down a flight of 14 steps. She suffered a fractured bone in her neck, a fractured elbow that required surgery, a cracked pelvis and a severe concussion.
“I just didn’t see the stairs,” said Owen, who lives in Evansville, Ind. “I don’t remember anything from the time I fell to waking up in the hospital. I was in the hospital here for a couple days before I could go home.”
It would be much longer before Owen would again be able to play tennis.
“I always thought I’d play again,” she said. “The doctors told me I’d be able to.”
But it took lots of extensive and painful physical therapy, which Owen completed with vigor, over many months. She’d always been a very physical being. It was almost pre-ordained. She had been brought up in an active and athletic family. Her late husband was a high school football coach. Her son and a grandson currently coach high school football.
Owen is a retired schoolteacher and taught physical education. She proudly speaks of the Reitz High School girls basketball team she coached to an Indiana state title in 1981.
“I’m from an athletic family,” Owen said. “It seems like I’ve always been around it.”
But not like this. The injury not only knocked her out of the game she loved, but it also shattered her national ranking. Owen says she’s won “44 or 45” USTA national age group titles — she can’t remember exactly how many. She had been a top-ranked player for years. Four years ago, she and Russ had teamed together and won a Women’s 75 Grand Slam, winning all four major USTA titles that year, on clay, grass, hardcourt and indoor.
But because she couldn’t play after her accident, Owen’s ranking plummeted.
“You have to earn your breaks,” she said. “I haven’t earned them. You lose your ranking. Seeded players get a break, and they should.”
Owen said she tried to come back the year after her accident to defend her title in Houston but was still suffering from pain in her back and neck.
She did make it back to Overland Park for the indoor championships last year and placed fifth.
But she hasn’t been able to work her national ranking back up, which is why Owen is a non-seeded player here. She said this is the first tournament she’s played in this year. It was obvious watching her match against Russ that it didn’t take long for her to shake off any rust. And a victory over a No. 3 seed can only help bring that ranking up.
“It was a good win for me,” she said. “I played about as well as I can play.”
Owen showed Wednesday just how fit she is by winning another three-set battle in her second-round match, winning 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 over Peggie Francis of Burnet, Texas.
Still, Owen said she has no illusions that she can win this tournament. The field is filled with top-ranked talent, including defending champion and No. 1 seed Marietta Boswell of Damascus, Md., who happens to be Owen’s semifinal opponent today.
“(Boswell) has won just about all of (the major tournaments),” she said. “She’s just better.”
Still, Owen has left no doubt. As Russ succinctly put it: Louise Owen is back.
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