British tennis star taken off court in a wheelchair in worrying scenes
A British tennis star was taken off court in a wheelchair in concerning scenes.
Harriet Dart was taken off court in a wheelchair during her Canadian Open qualifier against Louisa Chirico. The British tennis star retired from the match with what seemed to be a concerning injury.
Dart had been trying to reach the first-round proper in Toronto and comfortably defeated Robin Montgomery in straight sets in her first qualifier. The world No 78 secured a 6-3 6-4 victory over the American to set up a tie with Chirico.
Her hopes of landing a place in the full draw took a huge boost as she won the first set against the American 6-4. However, a tougher second set ended in misery for the 28-year-old.
Dart had taken the set to a tiebreaker but was broken twice and trailed 2-0. She seemed to suffer an injury to her right leg during the tiebreaker.
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Dart seemed to be suffering from cramping in her upper right leg. She was aided off the court in a wheelchair, suggesting that the injury was bad enough for her to need assistance returning to her locker room.
Chirico was awarded a walkover and will proceed at the tournament while Dart heads home.
However, there will be other British tennis players competing in Toronto in a tight turnover after the Olympics. Katie Boulter is due to play in the women’s singles, while Cameron Norrie and Jack Draper will play in the men’s singles.
Draper’s appearance in Canada will be his first since he complained about the quality of the water supplied to players at the Olympics. The 22-year-old was defeated by Taylor Fritz in the second round at Roland Garros.
After the match, he revealed that players had been forced to drink warm water in the sweltering heat. Draper made his feelings clear to the tournament referee.
"I said to the referee, ‘It’s pretty poor that the players have to drink hot water when we’re playing in those conditions,’” he explained.
“We did have ice towels and stuff but usually it’s important that we have good fridges to keep our water cool. It’s so tough to recover when you’re just not replenishing properly and all those sorts of things. There’s no escape from the heat. Even at the change of ends.”
