‘A bit of a pussy’: Battered Thommo quits at Wimbledon
Ian Chadband |
Injured Jordan Thompson has been hailed as valiant by his Wimbledon conqueror – but the renowned Australian fighter reckoned he felt like “a bit of a pussy” for retiring during the biggest match of his career.
Taylor Fritz hailed ‘Thommo’ after the Sydneysider’s battered body effectively shut down completely during their fourth-round duel under the roof of a storm-lashed No.1 Court on Sunday.
The US No.5 seed was 6-1, 3-0 and 40-0 up when one final forehand from Fritz swept past his stricken victim, leaving Thompson to shake his head and offer his hand to the victor after a 41-minute nightmare.
Starting with the debilitating sacroiliac joint complaint in his back that had plagued him throughout the tournament following an injury-ravaged season, the injury was only exacerbated in the fourth game when, leaping up to retrieve a lob, Thompson immediately felt trouble.
“Everything in my body’s already aggravated, and I think I just made it worse,” he sighed, suggesting all his problems this year have stemmed from a herniated disc.
“It’s just my back. And my legs are obviously very tight from compensating. Reaching up to get that lob, I don’t think that my back liked it very much, and neither did my legs.”
From that point on, Thompson, in the back brace that helped him get through two five-set wins earlier in the tournament even when complaining he had been as speedy as a snail, could only move stiffly and in pain.
He simply had no chance against one of the most destructive hitters in tennis in ruthless mode.
After a 21-minute opening-set drubbing and falling 3-0 down in the second, the advice from his player’s box, including Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt, was to see the physio but after an eight-minute medical time-out off-court, Thompson’s token effort to continue lasted three points.
“It’s sad … Jordan’s been battling out here, playing five-setters, I respect him for coming out, he was valiant … I feel bad for him and I hope he gets better,” said Fritz.
But Thompson didn’t feel very brave. “Honestly, I feel like a bit of a pussy pulling out,” he said gloomily. “I wouldn’t call it valiant.”
In truth, though, his entire Championships had been an object lesson in courage – or, arguably, foolhardiness as he also tried to back up in the men’s doubles.
“I’ve been sore every day, and was kind of waiting for it to happen,” said the 31-year-old, who missed out on making his maiden grand slam quarter-final.
“I had been thinking of not playing this tournament. So I’m now just taking the positives, it’s my best result here, so it’s still a great tournament.”
He admits that tournament is probably over now, even though he’s still in the doubles with French partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
“It’s looking that way. I told my partner, if by some miracle, I wake up tomorrow morning and feel like I have been in the previous matches that I’ll play, but I’d say a 95 per cent chance of not,” said Thompson, a finalist with fellow Australian Max Purcell in last year’s event.
Thompson said he now hoped he would be back to play a couple of tournaments before the US Open, but also conceded on the eve of the tournament he might end up giving the rest of the season a miss.
His exit meant that, once again, Alex de Minaur is left to carry Australian hopes as the lone singles player among the original 17-strong contingent, with Thompson believing the national No.1 can pull off a major shock against Novak Djokovic on Centre Court on Monday.
“Well, Demon’s beaten him before and I haven’t,” said Thompson. “If he believes he can win, he can. He’s the underdog, so, hopefully, he plays freely and just takes it to him.”
AAP
