American tennis star Amanda Anisimova said she was sad for Karolina Muchova and expressed hope that the Czech will be soon back to action. On Friday, Muchova sustained an ankle injury and was forced to retire their French Open third round match.
Anisimova was 6-7 (7) 6-2 3-0 up when Muchova broke down in tears and retired the match. Anisimova hugged her at the net and tried to comfort her. “I feel very sorry for Karolina. It’s very tough ending a match that way.
So I just hope that she gets the rest she needs and feels better. So, yeah, it’s not ideal to finish the match like that,” Anisimova said, per Tennis Majors.
Anisimova, after Muchova retired : “I feel very sorry for
Karolina.It’s very tough ending a match that way. So I
just hope that she gets the rest she needs and feels
better. So, yeah, it’s not ideal to finish the match like
that.” #RolandGarros — Tennis Majors (@Tennis_Majors) May 27, 2022
Muchova couldn’t continue versus Anisimova
Muchova initially didn’t want to quit the match but it became evident that the injury was affecting her too much and retiring was the only option.
“I got some painkillers, I was hoping maybe it’s gonna kick in and just tried to play fast balls (thinking) that it will maybe work out but it wasn’t working,” Muchova told a news conference before breaking off in tears.
Meanwhile, Anisimova faces Leylah Fernandez next, who edged out Belinda Bencic 7-5 3-6 7-5. “It was an incredible fight,” Fernandez said after a grueling battle. . “I think today I was just trusting my game when it mattered the most, and I’m just glad that I was able to trust it enough for me to keep going and keep executing the game plan.”
Fernandez and Anisimova will be going head-to-head for the second time when they meet at the French Open. Two months ago in Indian Wells, Anisimova retired to Fernandez at the start of the third set. “I have lost a lot of matches to get here,” Fernandez noted.
“So I think every match, what’s good about my team and I, we were able to use it as a learning experience to see where I can improve and what I’m doing good too. It’s just the ability to keep learning from every match that we have that helps put me in a position where I can say that I’ll just need to trust my game and just fight for every point.”
