A devastated Dinara Safina fears an extended spell on the sidelines after a serious back injury she describes as 'shocking' forced her out of the Australian Open.
The second seed was in obvious pain as she attempted to serve to stay in the first set at 4-5 and 30-40 against compatriot Maria Kirilenko at Hisense Arena on Sunday night, hobbling to her chair before telling the umpire she could no longer continue.
It is a similar injury to the one that saw her miss two months at the end of last season and also caused her to withdraw from the Brisbane International.
Safina said she had taken a painkiller before Sunday night's fourth-round clash and another at 3-2 as the pain slowly got worse.
"It suddenly hit me. It was getting worse and worse. I have no idea really how it could happen. It's really, really terrible," she said.
"My doctor told me I could sometimes have some discomfort in that spot, as I had bone edema, maybe I could not use full power. As long as I can play match, it can happen and I can have discomfort, but he said no pain, nothing."
"Yesterday I had treatment. Today I warm up, it was fine. I was cooling down, and I start to feel a little more pain. Suddenly I played a long game at 3 2. I won the game. I turned to my coach. I said I cannot move anymore."
Although she battled on for two more games - both of which she lost - Safina said it may have been in her best interests to pull the pin earlier.
"You always hope that it cannot get worse. If it would be the same, you think the pain killer can help. You always hope," she said.
"Now I see I did worse."
Safina, who lost the 2009 Australian Open final to Serena Williams, will fly to Germany early this week for further treatment.
"I did (an) MRI before I came here, and my bone edema was getting much smaller. It could not happen this. I just don't know what happened. It's shocking," she said.
"It's exactly the same like in Doha. Exactly the same. I just cannot move anywhere."
"The physio asked me to lie on the table. I said I cannot lie. I cannot make any movement. Whatever I try to move, it hurts terribly."