Football
20y

CORRECTED - Tennis-Open-Injuries cause French tears to flow in Melbourne

In MELBOURNE story headlined 'Injuries cause French tears to
flow in Melbourne' please read in 4th paragraph ...to beat
Colombia's Zuluaga... not ...to beat Chile's Zuluaga...
correcting nationality.

A corrected version follows:

By Ossian Shine

MELBOURNE, Jan 27 - French tears flowed freely at
the Australian Open on Tuesday when the nation's hopes of grand
slam glory were wrecked by injuries.

Amelie Mauresmo broke down and wept early in the morning
when she realised she would not be able to play her Australian
Open quarter-final against Fabiola Zuluaga because of a back
injury.

While there was no such public emotion from her compatriot
Sebastien Grosjean, the ninth seed was equally disappointed
later in the day when he was forced to limp out of his match
with Andre Agassi after straining a groin muscle.

The pair had been France's last hopes for a singles title in
Melbourne and fourth seed Mauresmo had been an overwhelming
favourite to beat Colombia's Zuluaga, ranked 36 in the world.

Mauresmo believed she had a good chance of winning the
title.

A finalist here in 1999, Mauresmo practised early on Tuesday
morning under the roof to test a back muscle injury.

All looked good as she rallied from the baseline with a
hitting partner but, when she approached the net to volley, she
suddenly winced in pain, holding her side.

As she left the court soon afterwards she broke down in
tears, burying her head in her towel. She wept again as she was
consoled by tournament chief Paul McNamee at courtside.

"It's such a big disappointment for me," the 24-year-old
said after informing the organisers she would not play Zuluaga.

Her lips quivering and eyes watering, she added: "I felt I
was playing some good tennis and felt I had some opportunities
in this tournament.

TEARS AGAIN

"Unfortunately I don't feel good enough to play a match, I
have pain so I have to withdraw from this tournament," she added
before burying her head in her hands.

Mauresmo tore a muscle in her back early in her tough 7-5
7-5 defeat of Australia's Alicia Molik in the fourth round on
Sunday.

"I realised this morning when I practised that it was not
going to be possible," she said, bursting into tears again.

Mauresmo said she would see a doctor later on Tuesday to
determine the extent of the injury. She did not yet know how
long she would be sidelined.

Grosjean was downbeat as he described what caused him to
quit his match against Agassi while trailing 6-2 2-0.

"He played it straight to my forehand, I played a forehand
and I felt something really hard in my leg straight away," he
said.

"It was tough straight afterwards to move. You know, I
couldn't move, I couldn't give 100 percent so I had to stop.

"I had the same thing last year and I played on and after I
was out for eight weeks so I had to stop."

Grosjean said he hoped he could avoid surgery.

"I have to have an MRI (scan) and see what happens, see what
it is. Then we will know."

^ Back to Top ^