The normally mild-mannered Agnieszka Radwanska and Simona Halep, seeded two and six respectively, hit out at tournament organisers after losing matches played in nearly non-stop rain.
Advertisement
Radwanska led Pironkova 6-2, 3-0 when play was halted on Sunday. “It was impossible to play, in my opinion”, she said. After failing to reach a semi-final in her first eight tournaments of 2016, Muguruza has now been among the final four players remaining in her last two, following on from her solid showing in Rome earlier this month.
“I mean, it s not a 10,000 tournament”. Its a Grand Slam.
“Then when it was 3-0, the referee was delaying the decision to walk off the court, and both of us, we didn’t want to play because the conditions would maintain the same”.
“We all know that the weather conditions have been unusual; the last time we saw this was in 1873”, Forget said.
Having booked a spot in her third career Roland Garros semifinal with a 6-4, 7-6(6) victory over Tsvetana Pironkova, 32-year-old Aussie Sam Stosur doesn’t really mind if she’s been written off. She doesn’t even care if she played well today, as long as she came away with a hard-fought W next to her name.
“Ultimately it’s the players the ones they care the least about in this tournament”.
Roland Garros’s refund policy states that spectators should receive a 100 per cent refund if there is less than an hour’s play during the day and 50 per cent if there is between one and two hours – but nothing if two hours of tennis are played.
The rain was not as heavy yesterday, but was persistent.
After an interruption lasting two hours and 45 minutes, the players resumed and Djokovic wasted no time in regaining the lead, only for the match to be stopped again.
“I can not comment about the conditions”. It was impossible to play, in my opinion.
“So I think it’s too hard to play tennis in these conditions”. The Polish player had treatment for an arm injury and lost 10 consecutive games on the way to a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 defeat to Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria, ranked 102 in the world. “I was close to getting injured with my back… but no one cares”. I don’t care what the conditions are. Because the court was not good. Halep and Radwanska both seemed to struggle more with the worsening conditions as their respective matches went on, and conditions got so bad, the French clay almost stuck to the ball at one point. “I always still felt like that”.
“But it’s not our fault”. I think it’s great. I didn’t feel safe.
“If what we are being accused of were true, it would have been in our best interests as organisers to stop play before the one-hour 59-minute mark as our insurer would have been responsible for ticket reimbursement”.
Several men’s fourth-round matches were also affected. David Goffin and Ernests Gulbis took matters into their own hands and refused to continue their match, while Dominic Thiem also walked off during his contest with Marcel Granollers.
Halep said she didn’t object during the match to the chair umpire or match officials because she’s “not that type of person”.
However, there will be no Williams family reunion at Roland Garros this year after Timea Bacsinszky ambushed Serena’s elder sister Venus 6-2 6-4.
Advertisement
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic set up a quarter-final tonight with Tomas Berdych after defeating Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut 3-6 6-4 6-1 7-5 in their rain-delayed match.
