American tennis player Frances Tiafoe didn’t let a bout of on-court vomiting prevent him from winning his opening four-hour match against France’s Arthur Rinderknech at the Australian Open on Monday.
Tiafoe, ranked 16th in the world, won the first two sets and lost the third.
He then threw up during the fourth set, which he went on to lose.
But the Maryland-born athlete received medical attention and recovered enough to go on and win the fifth and final set, 6-3. Watch the video here.
At the post-match press conference, the 26-year-old admitted he may have quit the game had it not been at the prestigious tournament.
The sickness wasn’t explicitly down to the heat, he added, noting he was probably “overly hydrated mixing a lot of electrolytes” and that it was mainly electrolytes and water that had come up, and not food.
But “it is what it is “and I’m happy I got through,” he told reporters.
Tiafore said he felt physically “terrible” after the win but at the same time “great because you get to see another day” at the event.
“I’m going to sleep tonight with a little chuckle on my face for sure,” he added.
Of going viral, Tiafoe said it was “funny.”
“I mean it’s it’s part of the game [and you have] got to be ready for all things and got to be willing to lay it all out there,” he added.
Tiafoe will play Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan in the second round.