LOOKING UP : Austin, Recovering From Car Crash, Is Overdue for a Change in Her Luck

Tracy Austin thinks her bad luck might be over.

Austin probably has had more than her share of bad luck in the past few years, but after suffering a broken right leg in an automobile accident last week, she thinks her fortunes might have changed.

“I’m lucky to be alive,” Austin said.

The 26-year-old Austin, who 10 years ago became the youngest woman to win the U.S. Open, is resting at Centinela Hospital Medical Center, where she had surgery this week on her right tibia.

Austin was driving a car in New Jersey that was struck on the front left fender by another vehicle that might have run a red light.

Although Austin said she was wearing her shoulder harness, she did not have her seat belt fastened.

“I woke up with my back on the cement (street) and my feet on the driver’s seat,” Austin said.

A series of injuries to her feet, neck and back have limited Austin to one tournament since 1984.

She was playing TeamTennis with the New Jersey Stars this summer and trying to work herself back into shape so she could come back to play full time on the tour.

Austin’s doctors have told her she will be on crutches for three months and might need a year of rehabilitation. But regardless of her latest setback, Austin said she is lucky nonetheless.

“There must be some reason for me to still be here,” she said.