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Last week Medvedev was the first to appeal for a delayed start
for tennis at the Tokyo Olympics due to the hot and humid
weather conditions and also received support from world number
one Novak Djokovic.
On Wednesday he opened the proceedings on Ariake Tennis Park's
main show court against Italian Fabio Fognini and was struggling
throughout the match.
The 25-year-old took a medical timeout on court and also called
the trainer on couple of other occasions.
Chair umpire Carlos Ramos was concerned and asked Medvedev if he
was alright while the Russian was serving at 3-4 in the second
set after winning the first.
"I'm fine. I can finish the match but I can die. If I die will
the ITF (governing body International Tennis Federation) take
responsibility?" Medvedev said in reply.
The ITF's 'extreme weather policy' allows a 10-minute break
between the second and third set if agreed by both players and
Medvedev used that time to get a freezing cold shower.
"Even from the first set I didn't feel good enough with my
breathing. That's why I called the physio, I felt like my
diaphragm was blocked," he said, adding that he felt it was the
most humid day so far in Tokyo.
"And then on the second set, I just had darkness in my eyes,
like between every point, I didn't know what to do to feel
better. Like I was bending over and I couldn't get my breath
together so I was ready to just fall down on the court."
While Medvedev said he was "lucky" he felt better and could
continue his match to advance, Spain's Paula Badosa gave up.
Badosa struggled during her contest against Czech Marketa
Vondrousova on Court Four and suffered a heat stroke.
She needed a lengthy medical timeout but was unable to recover
sufficiently and left the court in a wheelchair.
The year has been tough for the Spaniard, who became the only
player at the 2021 Australian Open to contract COVID-19 in the
leadup to the major and faced a longer period of isolation.
Badosa was also scheduled to play mixed doubles with Pablo
Carreno Busta but pulled out.
"It's a shame to end my participation in this way. It's been a
tough ask since day one, we tried to adapt as best we could but
today my body hasn't held up as it needed to," said Badosa.
"I suffered heatstroke as everyone will have seen and I didn't
feel like I could carry on with the game.
"Along with the pressure of the competition ... they're just
things that happen in sport and today it was my turn to
experience this. I leave proud to have represented my country in
the most professional way possible."
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly, additional reporting by Joseph
Walker in Madrid; editing by Shri Navaratnam)
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