After storming through the first set, the Czech star asked the umpire if she could go to the toilet during a changeover and sprinted off, returning in time to resume play.
She then called the physio and they left the court together, with Muchova making a swift return. And the doctor came to the court to give her some medication a couple of games later. The 28-year-old overcame her troubles to win 6-1 6-4.
Muchova chose not to go into detail during her on-court interview but she later confirmed that she wasn’t feeling well. “Yeah, I’m fighting bug a little bit. I’m a little sick,” the former world No. 8 said in her post-match press conference.
“I hope it didn’t disturb anyone. It never happened to me before, but I really needed to go off the court when I get a chance to go. Again, I hope it didn’t disturb her, didn’t disturb the people. But I actually don’t do these things, I don’t like to do it, but I had no other choice than to take, yeah, use a bathroom. That’s it.”
Muchova has been dogged by injuries throughout her career. She also reached the US Open semi-finals last year, losing to eventual champion Coco Gauff. It was the last match she played for 10 months as she was sidelined by a wrist injury and eventually had surgery.
It seems the 28-year-old can never catch a break with the illness being her latest physical setback. Asked how she dealt with the bad luck, Muchova replied: “I think I’m kind of used to it, never to that what I was going through today.
“Yeah, I was struggling a little bit, but we all struggle sometimes with some things, so I was just trying to do all I could on the court to feel better, to ask for some pills, some help. Yeah, I just tried to use all I could, as well. I tried to play shorter points.
“Yeah, just took it in a way — it’s written here on the court, like, you know, Ashe’s thing, I don’t know how it is – do what you can with all you have today or something like that. So I was keeping that in mind.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk