Just In: Tennis star collapses twice on court and covered with towels in scary incident
There were distressing scenes on the court at the Zhangjiagang Challenger on Tuesday as Swedish tennis star Elias Ymer collapsed and was unable to continue playing. The No. 2 seed lost the first set to Hsu Yu-hsiou in a tiebreak but served for the second at 5-3, when the physical problems set in.
It was a lengthy game, and Ymer had already blown several set points, plus saved some break points, when he went down. On one of the deuces, Hsu lobbed the No. 2 seed, and Ymer turned to walk back to the baseline but suddenly dropped to the ground.
The umpire rushed over while world No. 268 Hsu brought over an ice towel. Ymer got back up moments later as an official joined them on the court, but collapsed again moments later. More officials and medical staff soon came over, while ball kids stood over him, holding towels to give him privacy.
The umpire was heard on his walkie-talkie, telling other officials: “Call the doctors and physios. [He’s] still conscious.” Once medics finally joined Ymer on the court, the chair official called a three-minute medical timeout.
The Swedish ace finally got back up around nine minutes after he first fell on the court. He stumbled to his bench but then returned to the baseline to continue playing.
Hsu finally managed to get the break of serve, and the ninth game of the second set came to an end 26 minutes after it started, including the time Ymer spent on the ground.
The world No. 204 was clearly still struggling and doubled over to gather himself a few times during the marathon game. Hsu quickly held to love to level the score at 5-5 as Ymer could barely move at the back of the court, letting some balls fly past him.
The Swede had to serve again, but struggled to get any power behind the shot. Trailing 5-5 0-15 in the second set, he finally decided to retire.
Ymer struggled to walk to the net and appeared to either be cramping or carrying a leg injury. Hsu had to hop over the net to help his opponent reach his bench, and the umpire got down to assist him, too.
