Top 10 Stories from the 2016 U.S. Open
By Isobel Moody
NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 31: Johanna Konta of the United Kingdom is tended to by the trainer against Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria during her second round Women’s Singles match (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
9. Johanna Konta’s Collapse, Extended Break, and Victory
Despite Andy Murray going down in the quarterfinals it was a good tournament for the British. They got two men into the fourth round. Another, Daniel Evans got close and gave eventual champion Stanislas Wawrinka a run for his money in the third. Andy’s older brother Jamie won the doubles. And their top woman, Johanna Konta, continued her breakout year by reaching the fourth round. The way she did it, however, included an episode in the second round that was either inspirational or cheating, depending on how you look at it.
Konta had won the first set against Tsvetana Pironkova and was trying to force a second-set tiebreak when she suddenly collapsed. The summer New York heat had made her downright ill. When the trainer and doctor came to treat her, there was the question whether she should even be allowed to continue. She ultimately needed a ten-minute medical timeout, something only even allowed because her issue was heat-related. Then when Pironkova won the set, she took an extended bathroom break. Her official reason was to change her sweat-drenched clothes, but it also bought her more recovery time. Meanwhile, the twenty minutes of not playing much tennis threw Pironkova’s serve off. An hour after her collapse, Konta claimed the third set 6-2, and with it the match.
It was a spectacular recovery and comeback. But there’s the lingering question as to the ethics of it. Pironkova disputed that after the match, pointing out she’d clearly taken the bathroom break for reasons other than needing the bathroom. That she’d taken it after so long a medical timeout just made that worse. When one considers both that, and the number of players who take it to pull their heads together, or even throw off their opponents, one can’t blame her for being unhappy.
But Konta was the winner, and she would demolish her third-round opponent, Belinda Bencic, who was hardly nobody, before going down in the fourth.
Next: Juan Martin Del Potro Caps Off a Comeback Summer