Jack Draper vomits on court and cleans it up himself during US Open semi-final
Jack Draper struggled physically in his US Open semi-final against Jannik Sinner and threw up on the court during the second set.
Jack Draper threw up on the court in the middle of his semi-final showdown with Jannik Sinner at the US Open.
The British No. 1 was visibly struggling throughout the second set and called for the doctor before spraying vomit on the court and cleaning it up himself.
The umpire seemed happy to allow the doctor to come on early but Draper said he would wait for the next changeover.
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After losing the first set, Draper found himself embroiled in a marathon second. It took 28 minutes for the players to complete the first three games and get to a changeover. And the Brit was under constant pressure on his serve.
Draper has often struggled in hot or humid conditions and it was no different in Friday's semi-final. With Sinner serving at 3-4, the 22-year-old appeared to throw up after the first point. And things quickly went downhill from there.
At deuce, he couldn't control the vomit and was sick on the baseline while waiting to return. "Oh, there we go," Jonathan Overend said on commentary for Sky Sports.
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Tim Henman replied: "Sometimes when it’s humid as it obviously is with all the sweat. You can almost drink too much water and it sits in your stomach and I think that’s twice that Draper has vomited."
The world No. 25 grabbed his towel from its box and started mopping up his own puke from the baseline Overend added: "Poor guy. I mean, you feel like that, that’s happening, you’ve got to clear it up yourself you’ve got to carry on playing against the world No. 1."
Chair umpire Marijana Veljovic could then be heard speaking to Sinner and sounded keen to get the doctor on earlier for Draper. "But he vomited on the court," she told the Italian. It appeared that Draper told her to wait until the next change of ends. Laura Robson was sitting courtside and confirmed that the Brit didn't want to see the doctor immediately.
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"I’m just trying to listen in to the chair umpire and the conversation. So Jack wants to wait until the changeover to see the doctor by the sounds of it," she said. "But he’s just cleaned his own sick with the towel that’s gone back in the towel box so in terms of hygiene, we could be doing better down here."
There were even more bizarre scenes as, in the next game, Sinner fell at the baseline and put his weight on his wrist. He grabbed it in pain. And when the changeover finally came, the physio was out for the top seed while the doctor attended to Draper.
The world No. 25 continued to towel down the baseline and the umpire stepped in, calling for a proper clean-up on the court. After a gruelling 87-minute set, Sinner took it in a tiebreak and extended his lead to 7-5 7-6(3).
Draper left the court for a comfort break while the physio returned to massage Sinner's thighs. And it all got too much for the Brit in the third - Sinner dropped just two games to complete a straight-set victory.
