“I went out and got myself food poisoning and was really, really sick”
We are back with the third episode of our Milestones series, where Irish sports stars share the stories and secrets behind memorable photos from throughout their career.
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our first two episodes, with former Donegal All-Star Kevin Cassidy and Irish rugby legend Brian O’Driscoll.
In our latest show, Conor Niland looks back on his career as a ‘nearly-man’ in tennis, training with Andy Murray and narrowly missing out on a chance to play Roger Federer on centre court.
Conor also told us the desperately unfortunate story behind his match with Novak Djokovic at the 2011 US Open.
He said: “Wow, this is me shaking hands with Novak Djokovic in Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, after 45 minutes of play.
“I had just played him in the first round of the US Open.
“I guess this is the end of the journey, you just saw the start of it with the photo of me, I guess when I was 2, and this is me at 29 at the biggest tennis court in the world.
“I had just retired with food poisoning against Novak, who was number one at the time.
“I woke up two days before knowing I was playing Djokovic and had just been out for dinner in Manhattan.
“All the restaurants had been closed because there was a hurricane in New York City that weekend, but there were a few open and I went out and got myself food poisoning and was really, really sick in the lead-up to this.
“I saw Djokovic in the locker room looking a million dollars, and here’s me feeling as well as I did.
“So yeah, the end of a long two days, shaking hands with Djokovic here.
“I’ve been through a lot.”
