Jack Draper ended his first-round match at the Australian Open vomiting in a courtside bin after the Briton came through the first five-setter of his career.
In temperatures in excess of 30 degrees, Draper had to have his blood pressure and pulse checked by medical officials during the match.
And moments after shaking hands with Marcos Giron following a hard-fought 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 victory, he threw up.
A day after Andy Murray had limply bowed out in straight sets, it was a far better day from a British perspective, as Cameron Norrie defied his wrist injury to win in straight sets.
For Draper, it remains to be seen how well he recovers in time for a tough round two match against No14 seed Tommy Paul after arguably the toughest win of his nascent career to date. But the 22-year-old was buoyed by having come through a difficult contest.
“Coming through my first five-set match in tough conditions gives me a world of satisfaction,” he said. “It will give me a lot of confidence.”
Of being sick, he said: “It never happens. It shows the depth I was trying to dig myself into to get it done. It’s good there was a bin on standby. I don’t want to feel like that on a tennis court.”
The Londoner got off to an ideal start in winning the opening set, but lost the next two against his American opponent as the heat began to take its toll on both players.
Draper looked to be facing an exit from the opening Grand Slam of the year, but recovered to bagel his opponent in the fourth set, taking an epic match to a decider.
The Briton got the break in game six of that final set, dropping to his haunches in exhaustion as he made the telling point.
By that time he had tried everything in his armour to reduce the length of the rallies, increasingly throwing in drop-shots as the match turned into a survival of the fittest.
Draper, who had struggled with his fitness for much of last month, proved the stronger as he held out for the win.
Norrie allayed fitness fears over his wrist as he came through with a comfortable 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Juan Pablo Varillas.
Norrie had pulled out of the preceding ASB Classic in Auckland citing an issue with his wrist, and he admitted he had no idea how it might hold up.
But the British No1, the 19th seed in the men’s draw, showed little discomfort in a fairly routine win over the Peruvian.
Norrie is in need of a strong start to 2024 after a difficult latter part of last season in which, by his own admission, he struggled for both form and motivation on court.
He started the first round in slightly tentative fashion, but saved break points on his opening service game and got the first telling break in game five.
Varillas was undone by his poor serve as much as anything thrown back at him from Norrie on the other side of the net in a match which increasingly became a foregone conclusion.
Afterwards, the British No1 said: “I think I did the basics well. I served well in the big moments and I think I won a lot of points on my first serve when I did make them.
“I didn’t think I served that well, but I didn’t lose many points on my first serve, which was good to see.”
Norrie now faces Giulio Zeppieri, of Italy, in the second round on Thursday.
