PARIS (AP) — Turkish tennis player Zeynep Sönmez had to retire from a women’s doubles match at the French Open on Friday after tripping heavily over a small advertising board near the back of the court as she chased down a ball during a point.
She escaped with only minor injuries but demanded the boards be removed.
“I left the court with 2 stitches and a bruised knee. Thankfully, it wasn’t worse,” Sönmez posted on X. “Do we really have to wait until a player is seriously injured before these courtside boards are removed? Player safety must come first.”
Her fall happened on Court No. 6. As she ran to retrieve a high ball, she pulled out of a two-handed backhand because the bounce was too high and then clipped the board with her feet before tumbling face first into sheeting on the fence.
As she lay on the the ground, her doubles partner Tatjana Maria, and their opponents Dayana Yastremska and Anhelina Kalinina, went to check on her.
Sönmez got back up but could not continue and the pair pulled out at 2-0 down in the first set.
A similar accident happened to British player Katie Boulter in her second-round singles defeat to Anastasia Potapova on Thursday. Boulter toppled over while catching the back of her feet on the board — which carries the name of Lacoste, an official tournament partner — while playing a shot.
“THESE THINGS HAVE TO GO,” Boulter posted on X on Friday. “Got lucky last night but next time I might not be.”
Asked whether they would remove the advertising boards, organizers said they have raised the issue with the tournament’s umpire and were waiting for an update on the situation.
Four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek said the situation must be addressed.
“Obviously if these things happen, there needs to be a reaction, because there are other ways for us to be visible for sure, you know?” Swiatek said. “It’s hard sometimes to judge. Obviously on clay court we need more space sometimes because the balls are flying higher, and you can use the court a bit more with the spin and everything.”
Swiatek said the situation could be easily solved by moving the small rectangular boards elsewhere.
“I hope they’re going to put them in a different place or just put the advertising in a different way there,” she said. “Because it’s not safe for sure.”
After winning her third-round match on Friday, Marta Kostyuk said she had a narrow escape in her second-round match against Katie Volynets because she decided not to chase after a similar ball.
“Yeah, it’s terrible. I had one moment in the previous match when (Volynets) played (a) really deep lob, and I was really far back,” she said. “I prefer to lose the point than get injured. And I’m obviously very sorry for Zeynep. Hopefully it’s nothing very serious. It happened a few times.”
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AP Sports Writer Samuel Petrequin contributed to this report.
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