Jack Draper fought bravely against the world number one and the brutal conditions, but came up short against both as he lost to Jannick Sinner in the US Open semi-finals.
The Brit vomited on court four times as he was hit hard by the humidity in New York but battled on, desperately trying to stay in touch with the Italian.
However, Draper eventually faded and was beaten 7-5 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 in the first ever Grand Slam semi-final for the 22-year-old.
Sinner will play in the US Open final for the first time on Sunday and the Australian Open champion paid tribute to the impressive Brit who made things difficult for him despite clearly feeling awful.
‘First of all me and Jack know each other very well and are good friends off the court,’ said Sinner. ‘It was a very physical match as you can see.
‘I just tried to stay there mentally, He’s so tough to beat. It’s a very special occasion, just happy to be in the final here.’
It will be an American opponent for Sinner in either Taylor Fritz or Frances Tiafoe but he is looking forward to taking on the home crowd either way.
‘Whoever it is it’s going to be a very tough challenge for me but I’m just looking forward to it,’ he said. ‘The season I’m going through is very positive. We just try to keep pushing and we’ll see what I can do Sunday.’
The heat and humidity was intense in New York on Friday, with the sweat clear to see on both men and Draper even having to change his shoes as they were so wet from the perspiration.
It was as early as the second set that the 22-year-old from London was clearly in a bad way as he was sick on the baseline.
It is not all glamour at Flushing Meadows as Draper grabbed a towel and cleared up his own vomit before getting back to the match.
Laura Robson on commentary said: ‘He’s just cleaned up his own sick with the towel that’s gone back in the towel box. In terms of hygiene we could be doing better down here.’
Tim Henman added: ‘Sometimes when it’s humid with all the sweat, you can almost drink too much water and it sits in your stomach. I think that’s twice that Draper’s vomited.’
He ended up vomiting four times, incredibly, so it was a tremendous effort just to get to the end of the match, although another pair of shoes didn’t after he was sick on them and a member of staff had to run to the locker room to get him some more footwear.
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