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The French championships in Paris have reached the quarterfinals. The headlines have not only been on Rafael Nadal’s 12-0 in sets or on Simona Halep, the seeded, who has been surpassed and abandoned.
But also about violent exchanges, accusations of false injuries, unsportsmanlike conduct and violations of the covid-19 protocol.
It is far from 1982 in Paris, when Mats Wilander in the semifinal against José Luis Clerc at the French Open was declared the winner, but asked to play the match. Wilander thought that the referee was wrong and that Clerc’s ball was right. Fair play that was even included in the jury’s evaluation when Paris winner Wilander received the gold medal.
Maria Strandlund TomsvikA former professional tennis player and Eurosport commentator, he’s still not concerned about the sport’s reputation.
– No, tennis is still a class sport where sporting behavior is appreciated. The players are no more unsportsmanlike than before.
– On the contrary, I think it’s great with emotions, people like to see it, he says.
A high profile incident It happened when the French Kristina Mladenovic faced the German Laura Siegemund in the first round in Paris. Mladenovic was 5-1 and a ball ready when he hit a set piece that clearly bounced twice off the hill.
But Siegemund caught the ball, at the same time the referee ruled that the ball was “dead”. Siegemund won the points and the game, and managed to turn the set around and then win the entire match.
Reactions were strong, including the caption tweeted by Martina Navratilova:
– It was horrible. In the past we had judged ourselves, but now it is different. Siegemund clearly knew he wasn’t taking it on the first rebound and voila, he totally changed the game. Shameful.
The loser Mladenovic expressed himself more diplomatically:
– She would have been the sportiest player on the circuit if she had given away the points, but unfortunately she didn’t.
Maria Strandlund Tomsvik can’t Assess whether Laura Siegemund, who has now reached the quarterfinals, was aware of the double rebound when she ran forward to catch the set piece.
– It is hoped that you have not had time to see him, but it is very difficult to know how he experienced the situation. It’s the umpire who makes the decision, but some players would admit the ball was old, he says.
Kristina Mladenovic now wants tennis to feature VAR, the video reviews that are available in soccer.
According to Strandlund Tomsvik, we will be there soon.
– The technology already exists. We have the Hawk Eye system that was used in a competition before the US Open and that can also see foot defects and double rebounds. Linesmen were not needed there. The problem is that it is an expensive technology.
At the US Open, it was a linesman who was hit by a ball from world point guard Novak Djokovic, who was washed after the incident.
– I was really tired, but I don’t think it was unsportsmanlike on Djokovic’s part, he wasn’t even very angry in that situation, says Maria Strandlund Tomsvik.
At the French Open, he has stormed for several match days. After the meeting between Sara Errani and Kiki Bertens in the second round, Errani refused to thank her opponent. She later accused Bertens, who left the arena in a wheelchair, of faking an injury during the match.
– For an hour she’s hurt, then run like never before. I don’t like it when someone plays with one, said Errani, who thought Berten’s cramps were fake and taunted her opponent for it during the match.
Sara Errani’s opponent, Kiki Bertens, faked injuries during the match and later refused to thank.
Photo: Thomas Samson / AP
After a men’s doubles match in the first round, he came close to a handshake on a change of ends. Briton Dan Evans was furious after Matwe Middelkoop in the opposite pair claimed the ball hit Evans’s body before hitting the racket. The referee had to run down from his chair and separate the players.
And news came on Tuesday that French prosecutors have opened an investigation into alleged match-fixing at the French championships. This is a women’s doubles first round match.
Earlier this year, Brazilian João Souza was suspended for life for match fixing on the ATP and ITF Futures tour.
Sunday ended Sixth-seeded German Alexander Zverev in windy weather for an entirely different reason. After losing the match against Jannik Sinner, Zverev admitted that he experienced symptoms of covid-19, that he felt completely ill and should not have played. He never alerted competing doctors to his condition, completely against the covid-19 protocol.
– Very irresponsible of you in the current situation, there are rules to follow and they must be applied around the world. A strange choice to play the match, thinks Maria Strandlund Tomsvik.
But the fact that fair play is about to disappear from sport does not worry the tennis expert.
– No, and it wasn’t better before, says Strandlund Tomsvik and features a laugh climbing hot spurs like John McEnroe, Ilie Nastase and Jimmy Connors.
Read more: https://www.dn.se/sport/22-svenskar-spelade-franska-oppna-samma-ar-det-ar-absurt/
It wasn’t always better before. Here John McEnroe gets his famous outburst in the match against Anders Järryd at the 1984 Stockholm Open.
Photo: Jan Collsiöö / TT
