Tennis star injured in freak on-court accident (VIDEO)
Australian tennis player John Millman has been forced to withdraw from the Mexican Open after suffering a bizarre injury during his first-round match with American Marcos Giron.
Millman, facing a break point in the second set, missed his first serve with Giron hitting the ball back to him ahead of his second attempt - only for him to misjudge his attempt to control the ball, leading to it bouncing off his racket and hitting his right eye.
Cleary in immediate discomfort, Millman dropped to one knee before sitting cross-legged and covering his injured eye.
Despite being given a medical timeout in a bid to recover, Millman soon withdrew from the match after playing just three more points, with Giron claiming an abridged 7-6, 2-0 win.
John Millman has retired midway through his first round match at the @AbiertoTelcel with an eye injury. Can’t say I’ve seen an injury like this one before.. 🤷♂️(🎥 Tennis TV) pic.twitter.com/lc25qfIBle
— Jedd Zetzer (@JeddZetzer) February 23, 2022
John Millman on Instagram just now… seems he is ok after that freak ball in the eyes earlier. @johnhmillman#tennis#Acapulcopic.twitter.com/uq7Cd5SiR4
— Neil McMahon (@NeilMcMahon) February 23, 2022
“It was just a super unfortunate accident. The ball didn’t hit me hard, but as I went to flick it to the ball kid, with my back turned, it hit the frame as I was turning around,” he said afterwards.
“I didn’t know where the ball was and it got me flush on the eyeball. My eye was completely open when it hit it – (the ball) literally could have hit half a centimetre anywhere else and it would have been fine.
“Straight away the eye closed up. The physio came on and opened it a little with eye drops but it still wanted to close. I tried playing a few more points but actually couldn’t see out of the right eye.
“It was completely fogged over and I couldn’t locate the ball, so I was playing pretty blind. Unfortunately, in tennis, you can’t wait around to see if it gets better, so there was really no point in continuing to play.”
Reports online indicate that Millman has been treated by a doctor and was given medication to control the inflammation - and, thankfully, no long term damage is anticipated.
“The good news is that the retina is not detached, (but) I have scratching to the cornea,” the Aussie added.
“As of now, I am still wearing a patch, but when I have removed it, my eye is still closed up, there is some bruising and it remains completely bloodshot.
“My focus is slowly getting better, but it is still blurry. I’m still over here, as I would like to try to play Indian Wells, but it’s a waiting game before I can get on court again.”
The Indian Wells Masters, considered in the sport to be one of the biggest tennis tournaments of the year outside of the Grand Slams, begins on March 8.
