Madrid Open suffers second retirement in 24 hours as tournament plagued by injuries | Tennis | Sport
Jiri Lehecka was forced to retire from his maiden Masters 1000 semi-final, less than 24 hours after he benefitted from a retirement when Daniil Medvedev had to forfeit their quarter-final match on Thursday night. The world No. 31 called the physio and received an off-court medical time out but he quickly realised that he couldn’t continue playing and retired at 3-3 in the first set to Felix Auger-Aliassime. The Canadian is now through to his first Masters final.
The Madrid Open has been plagued by injuries, with several top players unable to start or finish their matches. Medvedev suddenly felt something in his hip while facing Lehecka on Thursday night. He called the physio and had treatment off-court before attempting to resume but retired after losing the first set 6-4.
Lehecka showed his class when he wrote a “get well soon” message for Medvedev on the camera lens after advancing to the semi-final as a result. But it was his turn to fall victim to injuries when he stepped out to face Auger-Aliassime a day later.
The Czech star was seen wincing before he called the physio at 3-3 in the first set and, like Medvedev, had an off-court medical time-out. He returned and tried to play but was forced to give it up after playing just three more points, falling to the ground in more pain.
“Well, this is deja vu from 24 hours ago. Can’t remember the exact score that Medvedev came off yesterday but pretty similar to this,” commentator Nick Lester said when Lehecka initially left the court for treatment.
The 22-year-old broke his racket in frustration after embracing Auger-Aliassime at the net, clearly upset that he was forced to give up his first Masters semi-final.
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