Nothing gold can stay, and sadly the golden run of cult hero of the tournament and blessed tennis unicorn Hyeon Chung has sadly come to an end, with injury cruelly forcing the un-seeded upstart to withdraw from his Australian Open semi final matchup against Roger Federer a short while ago.
Despite a giant-killing run to the semi final for the South Korean upstart previously ranked 58 in the world, the flash white specs and aggressive style of play were no match for a raft of foot blisters that forced the 21-year-old to withdraw from the match midway through the second set.
Down a set and trailing 4-1 in the second, Chung called for a trainer to address a problem that Lleyton Hewitt confirmed he’d been carrying throughout the tournament.
He gamely battled on for the next two games, but at 5-2 in the second the darling of this year’s Australian Open was forced to call time on the game and his run in the tournament, sending Federer through to yet another Grand Slam final.
Unfortunate scenes on @RodLaverArena with Hyeon #Chung forced to retire early in his Men’s Singles SF against @RogerFederer 😢
Federer is through to his 7th final here at Melbourne Park. #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/bjsGymyXB6
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 26, 2018
Federer noted that, while he was happy to compete in the final, reaching it in this manner was bittersweet, and offered significant words of encouragement for Chung in his post-match interview on the court at Rod Laver Arena.
.@RogerFederer will compete in his 3️⃣0️⃣th Grand Slam final on Sunday evening 🐐#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/EGhoqpyYf6
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 26, 2018
He is already a great player, but we are talking next level excellence and I think he will achieve that.
We will see much more of him. Top 10 for sure. The rest we will see.
I don’t want to put too much pressure on him. He has done very well. I can see why he beat the likes of Novak (Djokovic) and Sascha (Zverev) and all the others this week and in the past.
I think he is going to be a great, great player.
Chung’s agent gave an update on the severity of his blisters after the match, painting a picture of what must’ve been nothing short of pure agony.
An update on Hyeon Chung’s injury from his agent:
“…worse than regular blisters. Over the last few days, it was blister under blister under blister. He had it shaved off. Now it’s red raw. They tried injections to see if it numbed the pain. It didn’t work.”#AusOpen 1/2
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 26, 2018
“…I think a lot of players get callouses. As they go along, they shave them down. Because he has played so many matches in the row, I think that’s why it was a buildup. I think that’s how they started.”#AusOpen 2/2
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 26, 2018
Farewell, sweet bespectacled prince of the court. Go put your feet in a nice warm bath. We’ll see you next year. Miss you already.
Roger Federer is now set to face sixth-seeded Marin Čilić in the final of the men’s draw this coming Sunday night.
