Tennis
The monstrous failure of the organizers of Roland Garros. The champion was not even paid for a taxi!
Ivan Dodig / Photo: © Clive Mason / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru
Ivan felt like a tourist in Paris.
The Roland Garros organization raises many questions this year. More and more tennis players speak negatively about the problems that overtook them on the Parisian courts and beyond. Even the champions, who should seem to be happy with everything, faced negativity.
Another glaring failure of the organizers.
Seventh title
Tennis player Ivan Dodig expressed his dissatisfaction. Croatian is a legend of world tennis in doubles and mixed doubles. During his career, he has won six Grand Slam tournaments and was a finalist for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In total, there are more than 20 victories in his collection, but only one was won in the personal category – the athlete shared the rest with his partners.
The current Roland Garros has also become golden for Dodig. Paired with Austin Krycek from the USA, Ivan, not without difficulty, but still got to the final. There, the American-Croatian duo defeated the Belgians Sander Gilles and Göran Fliegen – 6:3, 6:1.
Dodig won his seventh career Grand Slam title and his fourth in Paris.
“I hope it gets better”
But, as it turned out, the organizers of Roland Garros do not care about regalia and achievements. Even the best of the best have to endure inconvenience. And Dodig said this publicly.
Speaking with the championship speech, he abruptly turned the topic from gratitude to criticism. Ivan admitted that he was sad, despite the victory.
— The tournament did not treat me properly. All players should be treated equally,” said Dodig, quoted by the Gotennis portal.
He later clarified what he meant. It turns out that throughout the tournament (and this is more than two weeks), Dodig came to the court by taxi at his own expense. Sometimes he had to wait for the car for 40 minutes, and he was late for the warm-up. Ivan did not feel like a tough tennis player, but a tourist who spends time aimlessly on the street waiting for a taxi.
— I was very sad, I felt like a tourist. I am a four-time champion of Roland Garros and I believe that the tournament should treat the champions the way they deserve. I hope things get better in the future,” Dodig concluded his speech.
Zone – five kilometers
The organizers of “Roland Garros” did not remain in debt. The director of the tournament, ex-first racket of the world Amelie Mauresmo, said that Dodig himself is to blame for his problems.
It turns out that there is a rule: the Roland Garros administration is ready to provide transport to the player if he lives a maximum of five kilometers from the courts. Then the exclusion zone begins, where cars from the organizers will not go. Dodig, according to Mauresmo, lived on the other side of Paris.
— We have 19 hotels within a radius of five kilometers. Anyone can order transport if they live in this zone. Ivan was in another department, east of Paris. We offered him to change the hotel,” Mauresmo said, quoted by the INews portal.
Amelie also added that her team cares about the environment and cannot issue an unlimited number of cars.
Is it worth listening?
On the one hand, Mauresmo can be understood. Yes, driving cars to the other end of the city is not entirely cost-effective, plus it does not fit into the modern “green” concept. But you can make concessions to the champion, right? It seems that more media Novak Djokovic or Kasper Ruud would definitely not have had such problems.
In addition, Dodig’s problem is not the only one for the organizers of the tournament. Several players immediately complained about the unsatisfactory condition of the courts. Russian Karen Khachanov, in particular, criticized them for being too humid and ironically called them “lakes in the forest.” Supported by Karen and other tennis players.
Maybe the tournament management should start listening to the players and their requests?
Source: Sportbox
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.