Tennis-Bouchard reaches settlement in lawsuit against USTA

Feb 23 (Reuters) - Canadian tennis player Eugenie Bouchard has reached a settlement with the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) in her lawsuit after a fall at the 2015 U.S. Open resulted in her withdrawal and a concussion, lawyers told Reuters on Friday.

The terms of the settlement were confidential.

“My client Genie and I are very pleased with the settlement,” Bouchard’s lawyer, Benedict Morelli, said in an email.

“Genie was vindicated yesterday with the verdict and now can put the case behind her. She can just focus on her game.”

A New York jury decided on Thursday that USTA should pay 75 percent of the damages owed to Bouchard but also found the tennis player bore contributory negligence of 25 percent.

Alan Kaminsky, a lawyer for USTA, said he was also glad a settlement could be reached.

"I am very pleased that the USTA and Ms. Bouchard have resolved their differences and my clients wish Ms Bouchard all the very best,” Kaminsky said in an email.

Bouchard, a former world number five and Wimbledon finalist, had sued U.S. tennis's governing body after she slipped and fell in a training room.

She was seeking damages for her physical and emotional suffering as well as lost earnings both on and off the court after not playing a complete match for the remainder of 2015.

She is currently ranked 116 in the world and has not gone past the third round at a grand slam in her last nine attempts. (Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York and Gene Cherry in Salvo, North Carolina; Editing by Toby Davis)