Clara Tauson got far from the comeback to the sport of tennis she had hoped for. The match against Mai Hontama was not many minutes old before she had to leave the pitch to get treatment and eventually retire.
The breakthrough against one of the best on the very biggest stage she still has to her credit. But on Monday, Clara Tauson was seriously back in the tennis world.
Let’s call it a comeback.
Not since April 29 has she been playing competitive tennis due to serious back problems, and this time it was in a setting that historically does not get much finer. At the legendary Wimbledon, Japanese Mai Hontama waited in the first round. And Denmark’s best female tennis player could, after all, enjoy it.
But soon there were shards of joy. And more unfortunate, her comeback to a start could hardly be.
At the 2-1 score for the Japanese, who had just broken a serve, Tauson took to the spot one would not see. The back. A physiotherapist quickly rushed to help, and for well over 10 minutes she received treatment on the field, driven through a few exercises before she had to leave the grass completely with a facial expression that signaled ‘practice, practice, practice’.
But to the sound of ‘COME SO CLARA’ from the stands, she returned. Unaffected and ready to continue what she has been taken to England for.
And then it happened. Clara Tauson withdrew. At position 1-4.