Natalia Prozorova’s dream week resulted in a concussion prognosis, and bitter discontent.
Chris OddoSeptember 25, 20262 minute learn
Tatiana Prozorova says she has been pressured to withdraw from Saturday’s Singapore Open semifinal after failing a part of a concussion evaluation administered following her doubles match.
The choice brings an abrupt finish to the most important week of the 22-year-old Russian’s profession.
Prozorova defeated Alexandra Eala within the spherical of 16 earlier than taking out Wang Xinyu on Friday to succeed in her first WTA semifinal. Actually, she had by no means beforehand reached a WTA quarterfinal.
That makes the timing of the withdrawal notably painful. Prozorova, who had earned simply $187,450 in profession prize cash getting into the week, stood to earn one other $48,497 with a semifinal victory on Saturday. A title in Singapore would have been price $185,500 — practically matching her complete profession earnings previous to this match.
As an alternative, Prozorova says the choice to finish her match was made towards her needs after an incident throughout her doubles match.
Trailing 7-5, 5-2, Miyu Kato hit a smash in her course, with the ball (in response to Prozorova) grazing her cheek and placing her shoulder (video beneath exhibits a signifiacant blow that left her down on the court docket). She stated a physiotherapist subsequently requested her to bear concussion testing and that she handed each portion of the evaluation besides a steadiness train requiring her to face on one leg together with her eyes closed.
Prozorova and Sofya Lansere retired the match to Kato and Ellen Perez.
“I defined this to the physio, too,” Prozorova wrote on social media. “Of all of the workouts, that was the one one they weren’t pleased with, although I handed all of the others.”
Prozorova, who will soar to a career-high rating of No.123 even with the withdrawal, claims she was then instructed she could be unable to compete for no less than six days. She strongly objected to each the choice and the method, saying she felt “completely high quality” later that night and unsuccessfully argued her case with match officers.
“The organizer’s choice actually upset me. My dream week got here to an finish at this time,” she wrote.
Prozorova tagged the WTA, saying the tour wanted to “rethink your individual guidelines” and describing the state of affairs as “a system that renders gamers completely helpless.”
She additionally claims the necessary layoff may jeopardize her participation in qualifying in subsequent week’s match in Beijing, calling the choice “utterly absurd and an overreach of authority by the WTA employees member.”
The WTA has not publicly commented on the circumstances surrounding her withdrawal or responded to Prozorova’s characterization of the concussion testing and subsequent choice.
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