Romania’s Sorana Cirstea says she is ‘heartbroken’ after her opponent Bethanie Mattek-Sands suffered a serious knee injury during their second round clash at Wimbledon.
The two were level at two sets apiece before the injury occurred. During a rally, Mattek-Sands moved towards the net and in the process injured her knee. Screams of ‘help me’ erupted from the American as the Court 17 crowd looked in disbelief of what they have seen. Cristea walked over to her opponent right away in a scene that she will never forget.
“I’ve hit the ball towards her direction, and then I did not really see what happened. I saw she was on the floor. Then, she started screaming. I went over. I saw her knee out.” She recounted.
As Mattek-Sands cried in agony, Cristea said she ‘panicked’ about what had happened. Describing the state of the America’s knee, she said it was ‘like something from a movie.’
“Her knee was in a very weird position. I’ve never seen anything like this probably except in the movies. And I panicked a little bit, as well.” Said Cristea.
“Then I called for help, but no one was coming. I tried to comfort her as much as I could. But, I mean, you could feel the pain.”
Amid the severity of the injury, paramedics were called the court to assist Mattek-Sands, who had to be stretched off the court. She spent a total of 15 minutes lying on the court before she was taken away to go to hospital. Cristea has criticised the time taken by the medical staff to attend the incident.
“I was there on the ground, and it felt forever.” She said. “It was me, her husband and my physio. It took a really long time not only for the stretcher to get there but, I mean, I don’t know for how long she was on the ground, but I would say 10, 15 minutes. For me, that’s really long.”
Cristea’s view about the medical attention has been defended by officials at the All England Club. In a statement that said their response to Mattek-Sands by a qualified medical member staff was within a minute and she was given pain relief whilst on the court.
“The first response to Court 17 was within 1 minute, by a qualified ambulance technician. The player was kept on court while pain relief was given. The player was then transferred directly to an ambulance and taken under emergency conditions to a hospital.”
Mattek-Sands, who received a wild card into the singles draw, was bidding to win a fourth consecutive grand slam doubles title alongside Lucie Safarova. There is yet to be any further update on the severity of her knee injury.
Mattek-Sands (📽 ESPN) pic.twitter.com/HK8q3HfFc5
— Ilya Ryvlin (@ryvlin) 6 July 2017
