An ailing CoCo Vandeweghe responds to viral video of mid-match "warm-up" at heat-affected Landisville event

As Baseline stories go, this one is as literal as it gets.

On Wednesday, CoCo Vandeweghe took the court against Ekaterine Gorgodze in an ITF tournament in Landisville, Pa. Like much of the United States this week, Landisville was enveloped in uncomfortable warmth, so much so that after two sets, the match was suspended for extreme heat.

Vandeweghe, who won the first set in a tiebreaker, was languishing as the second set came to a close. But not just physically.

“She didn’t make an effort to chase down shots and also grabbed her leg, which was bothering her,” reported news.com.au.

All of this served as a prelude for what was to come.

Vandeweghe called a medical time-out after the set—and presumably hoped the suspension wouldn’t be lifted, given her token effort in the ensuing warm-up:

As it turns out, tennis’ rulebook states that a warm-up does not have to occur between both players—even before a match. And after the heat delay, Vandeweghe clearly exercised her option not to partake. (For good reason, as it turned out.)

She stood on the baseline, took a few meager swats at the ball, and that was it.

Andy Roddick and Eugenie Bouchard discussed the bizarre scene, and the warm-up rule itself, on Tennis Channel Live:

The match eventually resumed before quickly being postponed due to rain.

On Thursday, Vandeweghe retired from the match while trailing 1-0 in the third. More notable was her explanation about what happened over social media. The 29-year-old American said that she is suffering from "a severe sinus infection which is limiting my breathing," and also felt possible signs of heat exhaustion as the second set came to a close.

She also cited the rule that she was not obliged to give Gorgodze a post-delay warm-up. She asked Gorgodze to hit with her coach, instead, but the Georgian "declined and instead requested that I warm up with her. I attempted to conserve as much energy as possible during the warm up in preparation to compete with all my ability for the third set."

Vandweweghe's full statement:

We will continue to update this story with any further developments.