Wimbledon star taken to hospital in health scare after unusual actions on court | Tennis | Sport

Tennis star Learner Tien was taken to hospital just hours after his second-round defeat to Marton Fucsovics at Wimbledon on Wednesday. The American, who had reached the quarter-final of the Australian Open earlier this year, was beaten 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 by the Hungarian.

However, Tien, who has been touted as a future Grand Slam winner, clearly wasn’t feeling his best self during the match, and was forced into taking a medical timeout midway through the contest. It was suggested he had been struggling with a stomach problem, which prompted the unusual sight of Tien eating a plain piece of bread during the first changeover of the 4th set.

Fears surrounding Tien’s health were amplified after the match when he posted a photo of himself lying in a hospital bed while attached to an IV drip on social media. However, there was a large amount of McDonald’s takeaway food on the table in front of him, suggesting that the issue might not have been a particularly serious one.

It’s a disappointing end to the grass court season for Tien, with the 20-year-old unable to better his second-round run from last year’s Wimbledon this time around. Assuming everything is okay in the health department, he’ll now turn his attention to the upcoming North American hard court swing.

There’s an incentive to do so as well, given Tien has never made it past the first round at his home Grand Slam, with the tennis prodigy keen to make an impression at Flushing Meadows this year. There will be plenty of eyes on Tien, not least because legendary American tennis ace John McEnroe tipped him to one day reach a Slam final ahead of the recent French Open.

Responding to the praise, Tien said: “I would never go out and say I have the best shot of anybody, because the US has a great crop of young guys who are really making big strides, especially on the clay.

“The results are obviously going in the right direction for Americans on clay. Personally, I think that I do have a game that can suit the clay. Obviously it’s not something that I grew up playing on, but with more time, and I just think more experience on the clay, I do think that I can have success on this surface.

“But I think for a lot of Americans that is the case. A lot of us just haven’t really been exposed to the surface and just the more we get on, the more matches we play, just helps a lot.”