John Millman suffers freak eye injury in Acapulco Opener, retires from match

Australian tennis player John Millman had his Abierto Mexicano Acapulco campaign come to a sudden end this week, after he suffered a strange injury that forced him to retire mid-match.

The World No.80 faced American Marcos Giron in his opening match, and was trailing 6-7 0-2 when he looked to deflect the ball during a service game in which his opponent held advantage. But as he attempted to stop the ball that was heading towards him, it hit his right eye and Millman went down in agony.

The pain was such that he was unable to continue with the match and Giron progressed to the next round.

Following the incident, he posted a photo on Instagram with a patch over his right eye and smiled for the camera. Millman appeared to be in good spirits as he joked: “Always got to watch the ball.”

The 32-year-old was not alone as Australian Open semi-finalist Matteo Berrettini also retired from his match due to an undisclosed injury. The Italian took the first set against America’s Tommy Paul 6-4, but was trailing the second 5-1 when he could no longer continue.