Vandeweghe has banana drama at Australian Open

Melbourne Jan 15 (IANS) Fiery American tennis player CoCo Vandeweghe had a bizarre moment during her straight sets loss to Hungary s Timea Babos in the women s singles first round at the Australian Open here on Monday.

The women s World No.9 received a time violation for waiting "too long" for a banana mid-way through the match reports Xinhua news agency.

After going down in the first set 6-7 (4-7) in a gripping tie-break Vandeweghe requested some courtside fruit.

"I asked for a banana at the end of the set and they didn t have any on court " she said.

"So I tried to wait for it but the chair umpire deemed that it was not a good enough reason to wait and he gave me a time violation for trying to wait for a banana."

When the match resumed Babos dominated play and took the second set at 6-2.

Although the first round exit was considered a huge shock after the 26-year-old made the semi-finals of the tournament last year Vandeweghe explained she had been suffering from illness in the lead up to the match.

"I ve had the flu since about (last) Sunday " Vandeweghe said.

"It s the first time I have been out of bed in four days. I tried my best... but she played really well."

--IANS
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