German qualifier, Sabine Lisicki, left the French Open Wednesday on a stretcher after being overcome by dizziness and muscle cramps following a second round 2 1/2 hour loss to Vera Zvonareva 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.
There were some apparent problems as the 21-year-old Lisicki had been examined by a trainer at least twice during third-set changeovers, even having her blood pressure checked.
When the matched ended, Lisicki didn’t go up to the net to shake hands. Instead she crouched down on the court. Zvonareva walked around the net and checked on Lisicki, putting a hand on her shoulder. A sobbing Lisicki then lay down on a towel placed on the red clay, and a trainer massaged her back until the stretcher arrived.
As she was carried off, Lisicki covered her face with her left hand. She met with a doctor, and was to get additional medical tests Thursday, the tournament director said.
”I started cramping at the end of the second set, and this continued in the third,” Lisicki said in a statement released by the WTA. ”From 4-2 in the third set, I began to feel dizzy and had problems seeing the ball clearly. At no point did I think of retiring, and I kept fighting until the end.”
”I hope she feels OK. I heard she’s feeling OK now. She’s seeing a doctor,” Zvonareva said.
”That’s what happens sometimes. It’s part of the sport,” Zvonareva added. ”No matter what, I had to keep doing my job.”
