"I was in the shower, I woke up on the floor in the dark": Corentin Moutet fainted 45 minutes before Tien loss at Australian Open

Learner Tien has done it again with the American showing that his win over Daniil Medvedev was no flash in the pan as he saw off Corentin Moutet on Saturday at the Australian Open. But the Frenchman revealed that there was more to it than that as he had a harrowing episode 45 minutes before the match.

Speaking to L'Equipe as reported by Quentin Moynet, he said that he blacked out in the shower and woke up on the floor but also didn't see a doctor as it was too close to the match.

"I fainted 45 minutes before the match in the shower. I don't know what happened. I was in the shower, I woke up on the floor. Everything was black, I couldn't see. It was unexpected because I felt good all day, not too much aches, I was pretty fit, I had recovered well from my previous matches. It was a bit disturbing," he said to L'Equipe.

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"I didn't have many points of reference, I was a bit dazed from the fall. I didn't hurt myself, but I was dazed. During the warm-up, there was a bit of panic wondering how I was going to do it. It was hot today (Saturday) , it was tough physically. Honestly, I'm proud of myself. I didn't start the match in the best conditions. I did the best I could to disturb him. It didn't work out, but you have to know how to lose too."

Asked if he saw a doctor, he merely said time wasn't on his side to do so. "I didn't have time. It was 45 minutes before the match. I woke up in the shower. I took a shower 1h30 before the match and I finished the shower 45 minutes before. I have a blackout, I don't know exactly what happened. I just know that I spent 15 minutes in the dark. I felt fine before, nothing, no alert. And I didn't have time to consult because I had my match, I had to warm up. Very quickly we tried to do balance exercises to find my visual references because I was a little disoriented.

Moutet though didn't use the shower episode as an excuse though merely saying that Tien was better than him and praised him to the hilt.

"He was better in every area. I tried to hold him physically. I'm surprised I cramped in the third set because I felt fresh this morning, I didn't have any aches. Which shows that things are moving very quickly. He gave me an intense battle. I had to build the points, be patient. I had a clear tactic in mind, I really thought I could get through it. I believed in it until the last point. The important thing is to have done my job.

"Mentally and physically, it's impressive. He played five sets twice. When I was his age, I played long matches. The next day and even the day after, I was sore as hell. And yet I train a lot physically. I'm super serious. That didn't change the fact that at that age, you need experience. It's by playing matches that the body gets used to it. And he, already, at 19 years old, he can handle this workload or match. Honestly, it's impressive."

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