Maria Sharapova's stomach ache turned out to be nothing more than that.
That lopsided loss she suffered at the Olympics well, that may have only been a false alarm, as well.
Playing her first match since a blowout loss to Serena Williams in London and a stomach virus that forced her out of two tuneup tournaments, Sharapova returned to tennis in fine fashion Monday at the U.S. Open.
The third-seeded Russian came back from a threeweek break and defeated Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-2, 6-2 in a stress-free, 67-minute first-round match at blustery Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Her victory in front of the half-filled stadium was her first match since a 6-0, 6-1 loss to Williams at the London Games in a goldmedal showdown that looked and felt more like one of these first-round wipeouts Sharapova usually inflicts.
Turns out, Sharapova was dealing with some stomach pain then, which only got worse a few weeks later. She went to the doctor for a series of tests, including an ultrasound to see if she was pregnant. The test turned up negative.
"Just because of the pain I was having, it was really weird," Sharapova said.
"They told me I was fine, not pregnant. Then, I'm like, 'Can I get my money back?' "
It has been an eventful summer for one of tennis' biggest stars.
After serving as the flagbearer for Russia, then finishing as the silver medallist at the Olympics at Wimbledon, Sharapova's original plan was to come to North America and play in tuneups in Montreal and Cincinnati to acclimate herself to the hard courts.
But the Olympics took a lot out of Sharapova, and when she arrived in sa国际传媒, she got knocked down by a stomach ache so bad that she went to the doctor.
It turned out to be a virus - her body's way of telling her to take it easy, she said, so she withdrew from the events and took a few weeks off.
"It was a nice break in a way, but after so many weeks of practising, you're just eager to get back on the court," she said.
She looked eager to get off the court, as well, showing very few signs of rust against her 88th-ranked opponent.
Wearing a soft-pink dress with a touch of mauve - more subdued than what she usually wears for, say, a nighttime appearance - Sharapova served five aces and maxed out at 115 mph. It took her 31 minutes to finish the first set and she was up 3-0 in the second before Czink got her only break.
That made things only mildly interesting, and only for a very short time. Leading 4-2, Sharapova won one point by chasing a ball almost into the stands on the sidelines, reaching out to get it back, then closing in on the net to win the point. Czink stood there shaking her head, hardly believing what she had just seen.
The routine win closed out a day session filled mostly with by-the-book results: Defending champion Sam Stosur's 6-1, 6-1 victory over Croatia's Petra Martic, No. 3 Andy Murray's 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 win over Alex Bogomolov Jr. of Russia and, of course, a two-hour rain delay at a tournament that has finished on a Monday for four straight years because of bad weather.
Meanwhile, Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, Que., breezed into the second round with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Romania's Alexandra Cadantu.
