A FURIOUS tennis star smashed her head with her racket after an inexplicable “choke”.
Veronika Kudermetova unleashed her anger on herself in a spectacular meltdown at the Guadalajara Open in Mexico.
AFPVeronika Kudermetova had an extraordinary on-court meltdown[/caption]
XShe smashed herself in the head repeatedly with her racket[/caption]
The Russian, 27, took on Camila Osorio in the second round in what turned out to be a thriller.
Osorio clinched the opener on a tie-break before Kudermetova levelled it up with another 7-6 set.
But it looked as though the No7 seed was racing through to the quarter-finals when she sped into a 5-0 lead in the deciding third set.
However, the Colombian somehow hauled herself back into it, fighting to make it 5-5.
And after shanking a forehand return wide on the opening point of the 11th game of the set, Kudermetova completely lost her cool.
The camera cut to the world No26 repeatedly whacking herself in the head with the strings of her racket.
The first few hits caught her flush on the top of the head then her purple visor took some of the impact of the final strikes to prevent serious injury.
She moaned towards her team in the stands and then readjusted the visor ahead of the next point.
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Incredibly, Osorio held serve for 6-5 and when she took the first three points to move 0-40 up in the 12th game and set up three match points, she had won a staggering 21 of the last 22 points in a truly epic collapse from her opponent.
The Colombian, 22, failed to take her first two match points but it was third time lucky as she completed the memorable turnaround.
Tennis stars’ new careers
PLENTY of tennis stars have stayed involved in the sport since retiring.
But others pursued very different careers. Here are some of the best…
I reached French Open and Wimbledon finals as a teenager but I quit to become a nun
I won Wimbledon mixed doubles with my sister but got fed up with English weather so now run luxury B&B
I was tipped for stardom aged 12 but retrained to become high-flying lawyer
I earned £9m and won French Open before setting up bistro with Brazilian model girlfriend
I’m last Frenchman to win Roland Garros, now I’m singer with six albums hitting No1 in charts
I’m former world No1 but quit aged 29 – instead I went on to play professional poker and golf
I was destined for the top but swapped lobs for labs as award-winning Harvard physicist
In a strange twist of fate, Kudermetova’s sister Polina lost ten games in a row from 3-2 up to lose 6-3 6-0 in Slovenia on Thursday.
Both Osorio’s comeback and the horrific mid-match reaction from Kudermetova prompted a wave of posts from tennis fans on social media.
One said: “My goodness. The most extreme case of the yips I may have ever seen.”
Another wrote: “No lead is ever safe, ain’t that right.”
A third added: “Thats not a comeback, thats a choke.”
And a final user commented: “Rublev 2.0”
That is a reference to Kudermetova’s compatriot Andrey Rublev, who has been known to berate and physically punish himself so aggressively during matches that he bleeds on court.
Another Russian, Mikhail Youzhny, famously split his head open when he battered his frame against his forehead during a match in Miami in 2008.
GettyCamila Osorio roared back from 0-5 down in the third set to win the match[/caption]
