Coco Gauff retires with nerve pains as worried star says 'my arm feels like a firework'
The American tennis ace was left fretting after picking up an injury.
Coco Gauff described her arm as feeling like a ‘firework’ after ending her Indian Wells campaign early. The American retired during a third-round clash against Alex Eala, and cut a frustrated figure throughout.
Gauff had broken Eala in the opening game of the match, but things started to go downhill from there. A medical timeout while 5-2 down followed, with Eala winning the eighth game to take the first set.
Her Filipina opponent continued where she left off at the start of the second, winning the first two games, which was Gauff’s cue to throw the towel in. It’s a disappointing end to the WTA 1000 event for Gauff, not least because she had entered the tournament with plenty of promise after reaching the semi-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
She now faces a race against time to be fit for the next big event on the calendar, the Miami Open, which gets underway later this month. When quizzed about the injury issue, Gauff revealed she had a problem with her arm.
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Speaking after the retirement, the 21-year-old explained: “I felt it, like, the second game of the first set. I guess a simple way to put it, it felt like a firework was going off inside of my arm, and then my whole arm felt like it was on fire.
“We’re going to figure out what it is tomorrow, but based off the feeling, being told that it’s probably something nerve-related. Never had anything like this before, never felt anything, a sensation like this before. And then as the match played, it got progressively worse, even when I wasn’t using my arm on shots that I wasn’t even using my left arm for.”
Before adding: “It was feeling like fireworks at times. Yeah, it was a scary feeling, but yeah, I don’t know.”
Gauff explained that it wasn’t a pre-existing problem, admitting it was probably caused by a shot made during the match. She added: “I believe it was a forehand, and then, yeah, it just got worse and worse. And then I tried, but because it didn’t feel like a muscle or a bone thing, I think it felt like my arm was on fire.
“I didn’t feel comfortable to continue, because usually with those type of pains, I kind of know what to expect, but I’ve never had, like, nerve pains before. Again, we’re going to see tomorrow what it is, but I’m assuming it’s that.”
