© Provided by CBS Sports A doubles tennis specialist was forced to retire from his match after sustaining an eye injury while returning a serve during the Qatar Open. The damage came from an improbable accident in which Tim Puetz's racket bounced off the ground, causing the handle to hit him in the face.
Puetz was attempting to return a serve that was heading down the middle, and since he wasn't able to get a good jump on it, he stretched out his arm to try and make contact with the ball. Holding his racquet down towards the ground, he accidentally let go of his instrument, causing it to bounce and mess with the player's vision.
Besides the obvious pain the Puetz dealt with, which caused him to hunch over on the court for an extended period of time, the big issue was that his vision was impaired. He told his doubles partner, Freddie Nielsen, that moving his head caused his vision to get affected.
"I cannot see very well," Puetz told a trainer. "Freddie I can see pretty well when I'm stationary. But if I look around, I can't see very well."
As a result of his match retirement, opponents, Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah took the victory. Farah sent his condolences to his opponent during his on-court interview.
"I feel very sorry for Tim," he said. "It's something none of us want, to get hit in the eye, and I really hope he recovers really well."