Tennis
Players retire, struggle amid Tokyo's heat – A disastrous Olympics for Tennis
Athletes from all across the globe are competing in the Tokyo Olympics under scorching temperatures and are struggling to cope up with it.
Daniil Medvedev struggling with the heat at the Ariake Tennis Park (Source: Mooresville Tribune)
The 2020 Olympics host city of Tokyo is currently undergoing a severe heatwave. Athletes from all across the globe are competing in the quadrennial event under scorching temperatures and are struggling to put up with it.
It all started before the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, when a Russian archer, Svetlana Gomboeva, fainted and collapsed on the field during the Women's Archery Individual Ranking Round while checking the final scores.
Gomboeva had to be helped by her teammates and coaching staff by putting ice cubes on her head to recover.
The image was scary. But, no one really anticipated we would see such pictures over and over again during the course of the next couple of weeks.
While the heatwave has affected athletes across all the sports badly, tennis seems to be the most affected.
The current world number 2 and two time Grand Slam finalist Daniil Medvedev was today seen struggling badly during his Round 3 match against Italy's Fabio Fognini.
It had reached to such an extent that Medvedev was overheard asking the umpire who will take the responsibility if he dies in court.
"I can finish the match, but I can die. If I die, who will take responsibility?" he cross-questioned when the umpire asked him if he was feeling okay.
Besides, a total of three tennis players have retired from their respective matches, unable to cope up with the heat at the Ariake Tennis Park in Tokyo.
The world number 99 from Kazakhstan, Zarina Diyas, was the first player to withdraw due to the heat. Diyas decided to pull out in the very first set while she was trailing against the Roland Garros Champion Barbora Krejcikova.
She was followed by world number 35 Yulia Putintseva, who cited the same reason for her withdrawal in the first round match against Nadia Podoroska.
But things got a bit tensed today as the Spanish Paula Badosa was forced to retire from her match against Marketa Vondrousova after she started to lose consciousness due to the heat.
Badosa was so severely affected that she had to be taken off the court in a wheelchair, with a white towel covering her face.
If one thought archer Svetlana Gomboeva's collapse in the women's ranking round was scary, this was even more, and it only seems to be getting worse.
