3週連続大会優勝、自己ベストを記録しJOP全国ランキング12才以下の部で2位にまさに手が届くというところで、佐々木龍子はコート外での事故により、背骨を骨折しました!レントゲンで確認したところ第3腰椎が折れていました。幸運なことに、この時点で神経へのダメージは認められませんでしたが、2ヶ月間生活制限されることになりました。競技テニスが一生できなくなる可能性があると言われてしまいました。

日本のトップレベルの選手に勝ったことから得た自信をもってしても、今回の怪我は彼女の選手生命を脅かすかもしれないと、医者から宣告されたことは、佐々木龍子にとって非常にショックなことでした。しかし、テニスができないとわかった1時間後、父であるコーチに、たとえ歩けなくなって車椅子に乗るようになっても自分はテニスがしたいと、スポーツへの情熱をぶつけてきました。そして、完全休養するのではなく、メンタルトレーニングやテニスの戦略を学ぶ時間を増やし、前よりも上手くなって戻りたいといったのです!

背中の下部の拷問のような痛みが和らぐと、龍子は首の脊髄に痛みを感じそれが左肩まで広がってきたことに気づきました。医者もはっけんされない首の損傷と左腕の神経が損傷を受けていると確認しました。レントゲンで確認するとさらに"ストレートネック"ももっていることがわかり、それも影響して神経関係の損傷が直りにくい状態にあることがわかりました。

幸運なことに、背骨の骨折は治癒していたので、医者がまもなく予定されている海外でのテニスイベントのため軽くトレーニングすることは認めてくれました。肩の痛みの治療に必要なものが処方されましたが、圧力がかからない'グリーンボール'を軽く打つことを3日しただけで、龍子はバックハンドストロークからこの上ない痛みに苦しめられ、韓国遠征で左腕を使うことを不可能にしたのです。

Unable to recover from the damage to the radial and median nerves from her neck to left shoulder, Angelyna Tatsuko trains to play completely one-handed (she uses a two-hand backhand AND forehand), as any attempt to use her left arm strenuously may cause permanent nerve damage. She begins daily treatment from a chiropractor, but with the extent of the nerve damage unknown, there is no time-table for her full reocvery.

With acupuncture needles in her neck and left arm to reduce the pain, Angelyna Tatsuko attempts her comeback in South Korea. With her left arm able to do no more than make a service toss, she endures the pain for as much as she can, but in the end is forced to retire.

Angelyna Tatsuko undergoes daily chiropractic therapy to treat the ongoing nerve damage to her neck and left arm, but there is little progress on the pain front. The acupuncture needles help little, and abandons them in search of alternate ways to support her shoulder. While she does have greater range of motion in her service toss, she has moments of great pain, reduced strength or numbness mid-game (as seen to the left). As a result, she develops a top spin and slice underhand serve that she can use offensively when necessary to play until the pain subsides.

Although she does manage to complete some matches and even reaches the finals in Oiso, she is forced to retire in the first three tournaments of September. However, just 14 weeks after suffering her broken back, Angelyna Tatsuko takes the title at Takahara Lobbing in Izu and reaches a career-best #2 ranking in the 12U Division!!

Angelyna Tatsuko continues daily chiropractic therapy to treat the ongoing nerve damage to her neck and left arm. While she does go several days without pain, she can suffer pain at any time if she overextends her service toss and any attempt to use her two-handed backhand results in debilitating pain. She begins to use a shoulder supporter, but it does little to prevent the pain at the source (neck).

She improves the consistency of her forehand and has even managed some 200-hit rallies with Christyna Seiko, her younger sister, but the big progress is in the one-handed slice backhand that she begins to hit offensively. Her new, hard, skidding slice backhand becomes especially dangerous when Angelyna Tatsuko can successfully mix it with her touch game, as evident in her second, post-injury, tournament title at Sugita!

After months of treatment, Angelyna Tatsuko's doctor states that he can do little more than pain management and that the nerve damage is non-repairable for a chiropractor. He knows of no specialist that he can refer for corrective treatment, and that the nerve damage may be permanent. While her pain treatment will be ongoing as she wishes to continue to play even with only one arm, we will need to consider other remedies, such as surgery, in hopes of restoring her to 100% health.

She does have a slightly greater range of motion in her service toss, but she is still unable to toss as high or consistent as she did before. And while we attempt to limit her exposure to serving as much as possible, moving her up to play in the 16 & Under division against stronger opponents has her pushing to compensate for her service toss and has now caused pain to her shoulder joint. But even through her pain and restrictions, her game and confidence steadily improves. And as most people play tennis with a one-handed forehand, those who don't know her have no idea that she is handicapped and playing injured.