Taylor Townsend plays solo in doubles tennis
It was a case of being a stickler for the rules. What resulted was a bizarre scene at a Mylan World Team Tennis match in Washington on Thursday.
Taylor Townsend and Liezel Huber of the Philadelphia Freedoms were taking on Martina Hingis and Anastasia Rodionova of the Washington Kastles in the women's doubles portion of the match.
(A match in the Mylan World Team Tennis league involves five sets -- one set of men's singles, women's singles, mixed doubles, men's doubles and women's doubles. Each set goes up to five instead of the traditional six).
At 1-0 in the women's doubles match, one of Townsend's powerful forehands struck Huber in the head. She couldn't continue with an apparent concussion.
Rather than forfeit, Townsend played on, shorthanded. Officials made no concessions in the 2-on-1 doubles match.
Townsend wasn't allowed to return the serve when it went to Huber's side of the court. She still had to cover the doubles alleys despite being without a partner. And she had to forfeit Huber's service games.
We couldn't find any video highlights, but there are some impressive Vines of the match.
If your opponent isn't allowed to return to the serve, why bother serving overhand.
Townsend won a few points, before eventually losing the set 5-1.
