"Like a firework was going off inside of my arm" - Worrying signs for Coco Gauff who forced to retire first time since 2022 with suspicious left arm injury against Eala

For just the second time in her career, Coco Gauff was unable to complete a WTA match. This rare occurrence from the 21-year-old was showcased in her defeat to Alexandra Eala at Indian Wells with the cause from this a left arm injury.

This is the first time Gauff has failed to complete a match since the 2022 Cincinnati Open where she called it a day in the round-of-64 against Marie Bouzkova. Over three years later is the next time that the American is unable to finish off the contest, but this one looked like it was always going the way of Eala.

After their meeting in Dubai, the Filipina was hoping for a change of fortunes. She was hammered by an inconsistent Gauff 6-0, 6-2 after coming across the world number four on a very good day. Today turned out not to be one of them hence the forced retirement.

There were just two holds of serve in the opening set, a trend coming familiar in Gauff matches. The 21-year-old has struggled a lot with her service and is the reason why she cannot compete with the best in the world as much as she would be hoping while opening the threat to an early exit. She will not, however, back down which forces a lot of cracking matches.

This time it ws injury which halted her progress. Four consecutive breaks began the contest, began by Gauff herself. After going 2-2, Eala backed her second break of the match with a tody hold to love as she took control of the tie. Those two games were followed by another three consecutive games which saw her comfortably win the set and take a huge advantage over the two-time Grand Slam champion.

Gauff soldiered on but after being broken when going 2-0 down, the signs were not looking good. She opted to take a medical timeout before the final game of the first set and after falling further behind, she made the executive decision not to risk anymore damage for a what seems as a lost cause in this match, going down 6-2, 2-0. She would later describe the pain as "like a firework was going off inside of my arm, and then my whole arm felt like it was on fire."

After everything was done and dusted, Gauff offered some quotes which were provided by the tournament explaining the situation and how she is feeling.

"We're going to figure out what it is tomorrow, but based off the feeling, being told that it's probably something nerve-related," she explained. "Never had anything like this before, never felt anything, a sensation like this before."

This does not seem good for her with a new injury always bringing up uncertainty. Especially if it was getting worse the more she played. "And then as the match played, it got progressively worse, even when I wasn't using my arm on shots that I wasn't even using my left arm for."

Fortunately, it does not seem like the end of the world. “We're going to get an MRI and to see what's going on,” Gauff said. “Good news is they don't think it's going to be a long-term type of situation, so I should be fine for Miami. We've just got to figure out exactly what it is and, I guess, how to prevent it in the future.”

This retirement is a hugely frustrating setback for Gauff who is already having an up and down campaign. For Eala, however, this is a huge win and a well-timed one at that. She was sympathetic towards Gauff with the pair having previously played double together. "Thank you Coco for being an amazing competitor and amazing role model. I really hope everything is well and you will recover soon," she said after the match.

Eala is set to defend a lot of her ranking points at the Miami Open where last year she burst onto the scenes with a sme##emi-final. After reaching the quarterfinal in Dubai, she will be hoping to make it back-to-back WTA 1000 last-eight appearances. This can come to fruition with a tie against 21-year-old Linda Noskova providing the guarantee that a young touted talent will be progressing. As for Gauff, it will be a waiting game to see if she is fit to finish off the Sunshine swing.