Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark has revealed that she avoided having to undergo surgery following the conclusion of the WNBA season after she ruptured her eardrum.
The point guard made the successful transition from the college game to the professional scene after she was selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the draft in 2024. From there, the youngster enjoyed a record-breaking campaign as she set new standards in her maiden term before being named Rookie of the Year.
However, the 22-year-old was left nursing a popped eardrum just 11 games into her Fever career, having suffered the gruesome injury in a collision with the New York Liberty’s Jonquel Jones. Now, Clark has explained how she was affected by the issue for a number of weeks – losing her hearing before the rupture healed of its own accord.
Speaking on a special episode of ‘New Heights’ alongside Travis and Jason Kelce, she divulged: “It was early on, like our tenth game of the year. We were playing in New York against the Liberty, who ended up winning the championship this year. ‘I knew it right away because I had done it before. It hurts so bad, I don’t know if you guys have ever done that?’
“I was tubing. I got launched off a tube in the middle of a lake. I was under water like ‘am I ok?’ There’s not really much you can do. It takes months to heal so after the season the doctor had to go back in and look and see if it had closed and if it doesn’t close you have to have a minor procedure.
“Luckily enough, it closed so I was fine. You have to be careful about getting water in there, you can’t go in lakes or pools,” she continued, as she explained how the ordeal affected her. “Sometimes it’ll bleed when it pops, but mine didn’t, thankfully. It’s just really annoying. Your hearing is off for a few weeks.”
After enjoying a historically significant first season in the WNBA, Clark also insisted on the show that she was not irked after she was not selected for Team USA’s roster at the Olympic Games. Revealing that she enjoyed a break after a demanding period in her life, she said: “It’s going to be good for me to do my own thing and have my own space.
“I kind of want to just stay out of the spotlight. It’s just different, but I feel lucky, too, because we had the Olympic break, so I got a month off in the middle of the season.”
Clark added: “We had to pause the WNBA season because the 12 girls go and play in the Olympics and everybody else, you’re not doing much. I got like a month off, which I really needed obviously, because I had been playing basketball for like a year straight. But, it’s obviously so much different from the NFL or the NBA.”
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