Atrás
Daniil Medvedev’s quarter-final match in Vienna was halted early on when a ball kid collapsed at the back of the court and left in a stretcher. The No. 3 seed was facing Adrian Mannarino and had broken immediately in a lengthy game. Mannarino was serving to get on the board at 0-2 (40-30) when the umpire suddenly called a let, noticing the ball kid go down at the back of the court behind Medvedev. “Wait, stop,” Manuel Messina told the players.
“Oh no. What’s happened at the back here?” commentator Peter Marcarto said, before realising. “A ball kid has fallen. Unfortunate in terms of timing there, but great vision from the umpire there to spot that immediately. Both [him and Mannarino] were right onto that. When matters like this happen, the focus is not on the tennis.”
Two other ball kids rushed over, as did Medvedev and the umpire. A court official also came over, and a bottle of water was quickly brought over.
Marcarto added: “A good part about these events on the ATP Tour is that in terms of medical care, they’re the very best here. And they’re straight out and ready to go. Not only for the spectators, but also for ball kids or anyone else who needs assistance.”
Medvedev and Mannarino headed back to their benches as the medics came over to the ball kid and helped them up, getting them to lay on the stretcher. There was applause around the arena as they came to their feet.
Messina stayed by the ball kid’s side and helped them onto the stretcher before heading back to his chair. “It sames as if he fainted. Not nice to see at all,” co-commentator Lucie Ahl said.
Play resumed about five minutes later, and the game point on Mannarino’s serve had to be replayed. The umpire thanked the crowd and players, and confirmed the score was still 40-30 in the third game.
After the delay, the Frenchman missed his first serve, but he managed to get on the board to stay hot on Medvedev’s heels at 1-2. But Mannarino got broken again, and the third seed won the first set 6-2. And Medvedev broke twice again in set two to claim a 6-2 6-3 victory.
There was a lot on the line, as a win for the Russian allowed him to qualify for the ATP Finals. It’s the seventh time in eight years that Medvedev has made it to the season-ending championships. The world No. 5 missed the event last year as he failed to rack up enough ranking points in the year to qualify.
Medvedev had come back from the brink in his previous match in Vienna, saving a match point to beat Britain’s Cameron Norrie on Thursday. The third seed grew frustrated during the match, slapping and hitting the court, but came through in a final-set tiebreak.
Mannarino, meanwhile, came through qualifying to reach the main draw here and then recovered after getting bagelled by Ignacia Buse in round one, winning 0-6 7-5 6-4. In round two, he stunned No. 8 seed Jakub Mensik before Medvedev ended his run.
Atrás
Top
| Declaración de privacidad Términos del servicio Contacto |
Refresca
|
All the best breaking news stories from Apex Scores Lite. Optimised for feature phones and low end Android devices, Apex Scores Lite helps users with legacy devices and poor network connectivity access the latest football news and live scores. Particularly relevant for breaking football news in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.