Félix Auger-Aliassime surrendered meekly with cramp while Britain’s Fran Jones was among a list of injured players forced to bow out at Melbourne Park
“I
’ve honestly got no bloody clue what happened after that point in the match,” said Francesca Jones as she fought back tears. Jones had been battling hard on court 15 at Melbourne Park, chasing her first grand slam main-draw win at the sixth attempt, when she slipped and fell. She instantly felt a tear in her glute muscle. Jones soon had no choice but to retire from her Australian Open first-round match while trailing 2-6, 2-3 to Linda Klimovicova, a 21-year-old Polish qualifier.
“Obviously I’m at a career high,” Jones said. “I’m probably in the main draws of the Masters, and then you are thinking: ‘Should I continue, do I fight because it’s a slam?’ There’s money, there’s points on the line. Equally with my history, it’s probably not the smartest thing to keep pushing. I’m just having that internal debate.”
A dramatic second day in Melbourne underlined the physical challenges of competing at the highest level as numerous players retired from their first-round matches due to injuries and cramps. Félix Auger-Aliassime, the men’s seventh seed and one of the most in-form players in the world, bowed out meekly in his opening match against Nuno Borges of Portugal suffering from cramp, retiring on John Cain Arena while trailing 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
