Retirement a pain in neck for Stepanek

Melbourne: Czech veteran Radek Stepanek was furious Tuesday after being forced out of the Australian Open with a severe headache while leading his first-round match with Blaz Kavcic.

Stepanek, 35, who is the first player to win two decisive fifth rubbers for his country in two consecutive Davis Cup finals, was leading 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 1-6, 0-2 at the time of his retirement in heatwave conditions in Melbourne. Stepanek, who is the second oldest player behind Tommy Haas in the men`s top-50, said he experienced headaches as he battled to see out the match only to be forced to call it quits. "Something happened to my neck in the middle of the first set which is giving me a headache and it had nothing to do with the heat or anything," Stepanek said. "Maybe I have a blocked disc or something, I don`t know. "It got worse during the match and I`ve been working so hard in the off-season and I hate to go off the court and retire in matches ... it`s not my piece of cake. "I tried everything and I felt pretty bad on the court even though I was two sets to love up but over time it just got worse." Stepanek was off the tour for three months last year after having neck surgery following the last Australian Open, but he said it was a different problem this time. "I`ve had neck problems before, but I called my doctor immediately and he said it has nothing to do with the problem I had last year," he said. "It could be just a block in my neck that`s causing me the headaches. I had surgery on the neck last year but it`s a different part of the neck." Slovenia`s Kavcic will play Swiss 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in the next round.