Khachanov almost lost because of the terrible conditions of the meeting.
The main draw of Roland Garros started only on Sunday, but already on the first day of the competition there were problems. On the French courts, simply unimaginable things are happening for a tournament of such a high class. There is a feeling that the organizers have forgotten how to prepare for major competitions.
The terrible conditions of the match infuriated the Russian tennis player Karen Khachanov.
“We seem to be in the forest, on the lake”
The day before, the Russian tennis player Karen Khachanov started at Roland Garros. Our player suffered for more than three and a half hours on the center court with the debutant of the main draw Constant Lestienne.
From the point of view of intrigue, the game turned out to be a feast for the eyes, but Karen pretty ruffled the nerves of Russian fans. The first two games were left for the 31-year-old Frenchman, who only this year declared himself at a high level. Fortunately, the remaining three sets were already won by the Russian, but not without luck. Lestienne aggravated the injury he received earlier and could no longer play with the same dedication as at the beginning of the meeting.
Karen won, but was dissatisfied with what was happening on the center court. The player in an ironic manner noted the poor preparation of the surface. The athlete was not satisfied with the amount of water used by the organizers for irrigation.
— This year is a good court. Excellent preparation, more water needed. It’s like we are in a forest, on a lake,” the tennis player said during the match.
After the game, Khachanov spoke a little more about the difficulties he had to face. Having failed to prepare the court, the organizers naturally set up Karen, who had to change tactics during the meeting.
– I played against him, against the stands, against myself – against everyone. I know that he had problems with injuries for several months, and he was loaded to perform at a home tournament. And I didn’t start very well, the court was incredibly slow, and it was difficult for me to build rallies in my own way. Then I got used to it a little, completely changed the tension of the strings, and it helped. I played better and finished the match much better than I started, – Sports.ru quotes Khachanov.
“Looks like some dirt”
Khachanov’s words could be attributed to emotions due to an unsuccessful match, but not only the Russian did not like the organization of the tournament. Serbian tennis player Laszlo Djere, after losing to Andrei Rublev, burst into an angry tirade against the owners of Roland Garros.
– Balls are a disaster, surfaces are different everywhere. Khachanov also complained about watering the court, which becomes like some kind of dirt. When I trained outside of Roland Garros, the ball was flying, but not here. I don’t think I’m poorly prepared physically, but after two and a half hours, when I hit every ball 200%, it still comes back, ”the Serbian edition of Sportklub quotes the tennis player as saying.
The defeat hit Györe mentally hard. The player even spoke of a loss of self-confidence and a lack of desire to play tennis, at least in the short term. And partly because of the terrible organization.
The whole tournament is ahead. I would like to hope that the French will hear the criticism from the players and correct all the shortcomings so that the rest of the tournament goes like clockwork.
