French star Luca Van Assche has retired in the middle of his first-round match after picking up a back injury. The world No. 80 was facing Marton Fucsovics on Court 9 when he hurt himself just minutes into the match at 1-1. Van Assche left the court with the physio for treatment, but returned to play.
His movement was limited by the injury, however, and an hour into the match, trailing 3-6 0-4, he threw in the towel. Van Assche had been serving at 1-1 0-30 in the first set when trouble struck.
The 22-year-old won the point but started grabbing his lower back in pain, and stepped closer to the umpire, seemingly asking for the physio. He played and won the next point, but was visibly struggling and doubled over in pain at the back of the court.
Both players walked back to their benches mid-game, with the score now 30-30, and the umpire promptly called for the physio. The trainer arrived, spoke briefly with Van Assche, and then informed the chair official that they would be leaving the court for a medical timeout.
Fucsovics was left waiting at the side of the court and chatted with the umpire before returning to the baseline to practice his serving. It took a few minutes for Van Assche and the physio to reach the locker room, and the umpire announced: “Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Van Assche is now receiving a medical timeout off-court.”
The Hungarian world No. 76 eventually stopped and waited at his bench. Around 10 minutes after leaving the court, Van Assche finally returned and decided to continue.
He was broken immediately and lost four games in a row upon resuming play. Van Assche eventually got on the board again and even got one of the breaks back, but Fucsovics took the opener 6-3 in around 40 minutes.
And things went from bad to worse in the second set as the Frenchman struggled to move and get power behind his shots. He was broken for the fifth time in the match and decided to retire, walking towards the net and shaking hands with Fucsovics and the umpire after spending an hour and two minutes on court.
Van Assche has still never won a match at Wimbledon, losing in the first round in 2023 and 2024, and bowing out in the second round of qualifying last year.
Fucsovics advances to the second round and will play either No. 16 seed Learner Tien or Dalibor Svrcina.