Former WNBA player Kysre Gondrezick, 28, has spoken out about a severe Achilles tendon rupture that occurred in January, significantly impacting her basketball career. The injury happened just days before she was scheduled to begin the next season.
"I was just backpedaling and went to go take off and it just popped," Gondrezick said in an interview with Fanvue. "It felt like someone had thrown the ball at me or kicked me in the back of the foot, and I turned around and yelled at the whole gym like 'who just did that?' and no one was right there."
Upon removing her shoe, Gondrezick discovered her foot was "hanging off." Initially hoping for a partial tear, she learned it was a "clean split," leading to immediate concerns about surgery and the potential end of her professional basketball career.
Following the injury, Gondrezick underwent a rigorous rehabilitation process, involving early morning physical therapy and gym workouts. She described this period, which she anticipated would be challenging, as unexpectedly rewarding. "It's been the healing of my mind, changing the perspective of the way I think, how I approach things, being able to take care of myself, not just from an exterior but from an internal standpoint," she stated.
While her future on the basketball court remains uncertain, Gondrezick launched a new subscription account on Fanvue in May. She aims to use the platform to "share a facet of Kysre that people haven't seen yet."
"I solely just want people to focus on the light that comes through me, the favor that I have on my life, the mercy at the hands of who I serve," Gondrezick explained. "That's the narrative I hope people talk about a lot more in my basketball career and my entrepreneurship beyond that as a businesswoman."
Gondrezick previously played for the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky. She played college basketball at Michigan and West Virginia and was reportedly linked to NBA player Jaylen Brown. In her WNBA career, she has appeared in 24 games, averaging 1.7 points per game in 7.9 minutes of play.