Controversies at the French open in the recent times

Published 06/05/2017, 1:30 AM EDT

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With the French open 2017 underway, we take a look at some of the controversies that have taken place in the recent times.

Roger Federer was clearly unhappy with the security at the French open, when he was forced to take a selfie with a young boy who clambered on to the show court after Federer’s win over Alejandro Falla during the French open 2015. Roger complained that this wasn’t the first time that this has happened, as he was earlier surrounded by three kids in the practice courts. He also went to on to say “Normally I only speak on behalf of myself,   but in this situation I think I can speak on behalf of all the players. The place where you do your job that’s were u want to feel safe”.

Roger Federer was faced with a similar situation in 2009 when a fan jumped on to the court waving a flag, and placed a hat on to Federer’s head. The security did not seem too concerned with the intruders, both the times, as they waited for the players to be actually touched by the spectator before they separated them and ushered the fan away. A similar incident happened during the finals in which a man brandishing a flare ran onto the court, only this time Rafael Nadal was involved. It’s safe to say that the spectators are quite bold at Roland Garros.

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Rafael Nadal asked the French open officials, to not allow Carlos Bernardes to officiate in his matches, after a spat between the two. He complained that the chair umpire did not respect him enough and was thus unfair to him. This request however was met with sharp criticism from the media and the players alike. Novak Djokovic went on to say that, it’s not fair for the chair umpires to be banned from officiating certain player’s matches, as they are here do their job as well, and sometimes they do it poorly, but it’s not intentional. Bernardes has resumed his umpiring duties during Rafa’s matches, and so far there have been no disputes.

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Wawrinka’s split with his wife Ilham, was made a mockery of in an article on the official site of the French open, before being taken down after a couple of hours. The articles suggested that the match for Wawrinka against his next opponent would be difficult as he shared a name with his ex-wife. The articled then went on to mention details about his split which was described as ‘stupid’ by Wawrinka. He said that the official site of a grand slam tennis tournament must be about tennis and not about the personal lives of the players and that the writer whoever wrote the article must be fired.

The French open later announced that the article writer was being fired and that the article had been taken down.

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Margaret Court one of the greats of the sport has been in the news since long for all the wrong reasons. She has been opposing the marriage rights for the gay community, and recently decided she would stop flying Qantas airways, because of its promotion of the same sex marriages. This has infuriated fans and players alike all over the world, and they have even suggested changing the Margaret Court arena, in Melbourne Park. Australian people have also sided with the decision, after the country’s majority people has been growing secular. Margaret Court believes that a marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman, and that the gay marriages are a blasphemy and that the Christian religion should not allow it. Players such as Martina Navratilova, who have openly claimed themselves as gay, also went on to say that, her decision to be gay was not based on beliefs unlike Margaret Court, but on who she was, and that even she supported the decision to change the arena’s name.

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French open 2017 is underway, and Maria Sharapova will not be a part of it. After all the drama surrounding the topic of wildcards being given to plateys returning from doping bans, the French open have decided against handing out a wild card to the former champion. As most of the players on the tour have voiced their opinions quite clearly, Sharapova seems to be nonchalant about it, and says that this hurdle will not stop her from believing in herself, and going for her dreams. The debate has been hot over the few months over the tournaments handing out wild cards, and now that the fire has abated, one might take a look at the women’s draw, and ask how wide open is this year’s draw, with no Serena, no Azarenka, no Sharapova, and with the top seed Angelique Kerber crashing out in the first round. It would be really interesting to watch this year’s women’s section at Roland Garros, and see who takes advantage of the missing competition.

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Kuchal

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