German veteran Laura Siegemund reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final on Monday after ordering a plate of food to be delivered to her on court at French Open.
The 32-year-old said she had found it difficult to find anything to eat before her match against Spain’s Paula Badosa.
“I was trying to get some carbs in. I tried the bar. Couldn’t get it down really. I tried,” said world No 66 Siegemund after her 7-5, 6-2 win over Badosa on Court Simonne-Mathieu.
French Open: Kvitova makes quarters after eight years, Siegemund reaches first
She had the food delivered to her chair while her opponent was taking a medical time out and as she waited, she eagerly tucked in with fork in hand.
“I asked my physio to bring me something else. I just wanted to get some carb, some potato or rice. Probably looks weird having a fork and eating like that, but better than low sugar anyway. I preferred to try to get some energy back in the body,” she added.
In the video, the chair umpire was heard saying, “I have seen many strange things, never seen eating courtside before... Never saw this kind of food.”
Siegemund has made the second week of a Slam for the first time in 16 attempts in singles although she did lift the US Open doubles title last month.
On Monday, energised by her food intake, she won 10 of the last 12 games to set up a quarter-final clash against seventh seed and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.
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