Victoria Azarenka collapsed on Wednesday during her 2nd round match at the 2010 U.S. Open.
Azarenka collapsed and fell to the ground while chasing down a ball on the baseline and had to be taken off the court in a wheelchair, withdrawing from the sweltering U.S. Open with what tournament officials said were “headache-like” symptoms.
The 10th-seed from Belarus was trailing Gisela Dulko 5-1, 31 minutes into her match on another steamy day at Flushing Meadows, when she crumpled to the ground. She was taken to the hospital for tests.
The temperature had reached 90 degrees with 42 percent humidity by 11:30 a.m. and on-court temperatures topped 100 degrees. However, tournament officials released a statement saying heat did not appear to be the primary cause for the 21-year-old’s withdrawal.
“Victoria Azarenka retired from her match with headache-like symptoms,” the statement said. “She was taken to a nearby hospital for diagnostic testing. Out of respect to her privacy, we can not give any more details. However, we can say that this does not seem to be primarily a heat-related illness.”
Wearing an all-black tennis dress, Azarenka had been moving slowly throughout the match. Before she served the first point in the seventh game, she hesitated and winced in pain. After the point, she kneeled down.
Two points later, while trying to run on the baseline, she stopped and crumpled to the ground, not appearing to twist or sprain anything. Medical personnel rushed out, draped a towel across her legs and yelled to the sideline to bring water. After a few minutes on the ground, being sheltered by an umbrella and with an ice pack on her neck, Azarenka was helped into the wheelchair and moved off the court. A trainer placed his hand on her neck to check her pulse.
We trust she will fully recover and be back on the tennis court soon.
