Britain's Jack Draper collapses to the ground on his ATP Tour debut due to suspected heat exhaustion
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ByEurosport
Updated 25/03/2021 at 18:26 GMT
Jack Draper's debut on the ATP Tour on Thursday took a nasty turn. The 19-year-old London-born player, ranked 316 in the world, collapsed to the ground due to suspected heat exhaustion in temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius in the first set of his clash against Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin on Court 2 in Miami.
Jack Draper
Image credit: Getty Images
Britain's Jack Draper was forced to retire from his ATP Tour debut after collapsing on court at the Miami Open in searing heat.
Draper called for the trainer midway through the first set and the doctor was called to check his temperature and blood pressure.
But it got worse for the 19-year-old. He was trailing 6-5 on serve against Mikhail Kukushkin before he fell to the ground in the sweltering conditions as he chased a return on set point.
Moments later he sat up with an ice pack on his neck before walking off-court.
"The hard part, he's not used to playing at this sort of physical tempo, this sort of period of time," former British number one Greg Rusedski, who was watching the match, told Amazon Prime.
"It was like an hour and 10 minutes, every point was brutal and it's a step up in class.
"He has to learn from this situation, get the ice towel out from game one. I've got to make sure I hydrate.
"I'm sure he will recover from that. That was the positive from the end of that match."
Later on Thursday Britain's Johanna Konta plays Poland's Magda Linette while Liam Broady takes on Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic.
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