Elina Svitolina has called for medically trained officials to be court-side at tournaments after a serious injury ended her second round clash on Wednesday.
The Ukrainian was taking on world No.20 Mihaela Buzarnescu in Toronto at the Rogers Cup. Leading the final set 4-3, Svitolina’s match was halted after her opponent went over on her ankle and was left screaming in pain. Svitolina described the incident as the worst injury she has ever witnessed on the court as Buzarnescu exit the court in a wheelchair.
“I could see straight away it was really, really serious injury there.” Svitolina told reporters after the match. “I was really shocked. She was in pain. I could see straightaway.”
“I didn’t really know what to do.”
The Buzarnescu injury: pic.twitter.com/CqwdMU1gcM
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) August 8, 2018
Whist medical staff are available at every WTA tournament, it took nearly five minutes for a Physio to arrive on the court to aid the Romanian. Trainers have a lot of ground to cover due to numerous matches taking place at the same time. There is not one associated to each court. Something Svitolina believes should be changed in the future.
“I think in general we should have a few people who are medically trained all the time on the court because me or chair umpire, we don’t know what to do in these kind of situations when the injuries are really serious like that.” She said.
One idea mentioned by the 23-year-old is for players on the tour to be given first aid training in case of such situations. Arguing that will help in worst case scenarios on the court.
“Maybe we (the players) should have to take courses or something to help this kind of situation.” She said. “For example, what if someone has a heart attack? You need to act in the next minute, not like it was five, six minutes it took them to get there.”
“We play under such a big pressure all the time, conditions as well. If it’s really, really hot, the heat, you never know what’s going to happen. I think we have to improve this.” Svitolina later added.
There has been no official word on how severe the injury was that Buzarnescu suffer. According to New York Times journalist Ben Rothenberg, the diagnosis is reported to be a sprained ankle.
Svitolina will play either Johanna Konta or Victoria Azarenka in the third round of the Rogers Cup. Konta was leading their match 6-3, 3-0, before rain halted proceedings.
