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Daniil Medvedev’s opponent collapsed while serving an hour into their French Open first-round match. Facundo Bagnis arrived on court with his right calf covered in tape and eventually lost in straight sets to the world No 2, with commentators questioning whether he would be penalised for playing injured with his physical struggles clearly on show.
Medvedev needed just an hour and 38 minutes to ease past Bagnis on Tuesday, with the Argentine obviously physically hampered, with his right calf covered in strapping. The world No 103 had withdrawn from last week’s Geneva Open with injury and didn’t appear to be fully fit in time for the French Open – an offence that can see players stripped of their prize money if they knowingly competed when they were unable to.
And the 32-year-old’s physical issues were on show when he collapsed while serving at 1-5 down in the second set. “He’s going to really hurt himself if he keeps going,” Sam Smith said on commentary. Joined by Mark Petchey on Eurosport, both had already raised concern over Bagnis’ attempt to play a match while injured, as early in the first set.
The former coach of Andy Murray said: “I think you made a pretty valid point about Bagnis, he is clearly not 100 per cent fit physically and I’m going to be very interested to see kind of how long he stays out here.” Both also pulled the No 103 up on the rule stopping players from competing injured, implemented after several first-rounds at tournaments like Wimbledon were cut short five years ago following back-to-back retirements from injured athletes who wanted to come onto court to earn their first round losers’ cheque.
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