2023-09-01 19:01:03
NEW YORK | A player who has to retreat to the bathroom in the middle of a point, others who are unable to conclude the match, or even to dispute it. There’s a mysterious stomach ache spreading at the US Open that’s bothering several athletes in New York.
The American Christopher Eubanks, the sensation of the last Wimbledon, the Austrian Dominic Thiem, who found himself in the second round of a major event for the first time after six failed attempts, the Finn Ruusuvuori and the Pole Hubert Hurkacz are among the players who have been inconvenienced by the virus.
Dominic Thiem
Photo Getty Images via AFP
In the case of Eubanks, the 28th seed in the Big Apple, he felt such an urge to go to the bathroom that he didn’t even bother to wait until the spot he was in. arguing is over to go, when he faced the Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi, at the end of the fourth round.
Chris Eubanks ran off the court mid-rally, only to return with some new clothes. Earlier in the match, he had requested nausea medication from the umpire.
Bathroom break? ????????#USOpen
(????: @j2bri) pic.twitter.com/KRTSjiHTR8— Sportsbook Review (@SBRReview) August 30, 2023
The crowd favorite had previously asked the trainer to bring him some nausea medicine, according to the Daily Mail. He was still able to finish the second-round match – which he lost in the fourth-set tiebreaker – and play his doubles match afterwards (where he was also eliminated).
But not everyone had the chance to compete to the end. Ruusuvuori, ranked 56th, announced his retirement before the start of the tournament.
As for Thiem, champion in New York three years ago, he withdrew at the start of the second set against American Ben Shelton on Wednesday, complaining that he was no longer able to walk.
For the moment, the nature of the evil, which seems to affect mainly the men’s locker room, remains unknown. Former American star athlete John McEnroe, turned ESPN commentator, is on the sidelines after contracting COVID-19, but there is no indication that sick players have also caught it.
Jabeur and its orange juice
On the women’s side, last year’s finalist, Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, struggled through her first two matches, while she was also physically inconvenienced.
But in her case, it is a flu, she said while drinking orange juice at a press conference on Thursday.
“My stomach is fine,” pointed out the fifth favorite, while explaining that she had to take “all the drugs” that the doctors had offered her.
“I know other players have stomach issues, but luckily not me,” she added.
Medication… to play better
On a busy Thursday evening, during which he had trouble with the New York crowd – as is often the case – the Russian Daniil Medvedev also called on the healer after losing the third set against the Australian Christopher O’Connell.
But it seems that the pains of the third seed were less serious than those felt by other players.
Asked by the doctor about the nature of his symptoms, Medvedev replied: “Yes, I lost a round. Give me the same thing you gave her [à O’Connell] earlier in the game…”
1693621830
#Tennis #mysterious #virus #circulates #Open #players #caught