US Open 2023 mysterious illness: Dominic Thiem, Petra Kvitova, and other players who have been affected during the New York Major
The US Open 2023 is up and running and so far, we have seen some terrific tennis at the Billie Jean King USTA National Tennis Center.
However, we've also seen a number of players being affected by a mysterious illness during the tournament, with some even going on to retire or withdraw.
The most prominent incident of illness during the US Open occurred when 2020 champion Dominic Thiem faced Ben Shelton. The Austrian reportedly vomited before the match and looked unwell while playing. He gagged a few times before eventually retiring.
Finland's Emil Ruusuvuori was set to face Andrey Rublev in the first round of the US Open. However, the youngster withdrew from the match due to illness.
Men's 28th seed Christopher Eubanks also struggled with illness during his second-round clash against Benjamin Bonzi. Things were so bad with the American that he intentionally conceded a game while he was trailing by two sets-to-one, and ran off the court for a bathroom.
Eubanks did manage to put up a fight during the remainder of the set but Bonzi won it via a tiebreak, thus registering a 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(7) win to reach the third round.
Women's 11th seed Petra Kvitova was beaten 7-5, 7-6(5) by former World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the second round of the US Open. The Czech looked far from her best during the match and while she refused to blame her loss on her health, she claimed that she was "feeling flat" with her energy.
"Was feeling a little bit flat with energy, I couldn't put myself to the better position," Kvitova said after the match.
Ons Jabeur struggled with illness during 1R match at US Open 2023
Women's fifth seed Ons Jabeur is also among the players who struggled with illness during the US Open. The Tunisian was not well during her first-round match against Camila Osorio but she battled and won 7-5, 7-6(4).
Jabeur said after the match that she had the flu and even considered retiring at times.
"I have the flu, so it wasn’t easy to play. I also have a history of asthma. So it was a very, very tough day for me. I did consider retiring to be honest, so many times. But every point, I kept going. I wanted to push myself to my limits. I’m glad I was able to fight today," Jabeur said.
After overcoming Linda Noskova 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-3 in the second round, Jabeur said that she had been sick for a while and that she and her team were trying everything possible to help her recover.
"Yeah, I've been sick since I think Thursday. I'm taking a lot of medicine. I'm doing, like, everything I can with my team trying to recover. Honestly, they have amazing doctors here, so they've been helping me," she said after the 2R win.