French Open 2026 had a brutal start with a sweeping heat wave, multiple withdrawals mid-game, and on-court drama. But an injury and, more importantly, the manner of the injury of a Belgian star told two different stories. Eagled-eyed fans found the discrepancies and were quick to point out something going on behind the scenes as a fellow pro shared his thoughts.

Belgium’s Alexander Blockx, who was scheduled to play Alex de Minaur on Wednesday, made a social media announcement stating his withdrawal due to injury, which was caused in very unfortunate circumstances.

As per his Instagram post’s initial caption, he tripped over the covers kept at the back of the court in case it rained and sustained an ankle injury. Blockx was understandably upset, and he made a sarcastic comment, stating that “really necessary” covers were the cause of his injury.

However, in an interesting turn of events, a few hours later, the Belgian edited the post’s caption, removing the part about him slipping on the covers. The new caption was just a formal announcement of his withdrawal from the event due to an injury. This small edit did not escape the vigilant eyes of fans on social media, who immediately shared screenshots of both the before and after versions of the post, raising questions about why Blockx took this step.

The fan theories on X also caught the attention of fellow ATP player Thanasi Kokkinakis, who commented on a post that was referring to Blockx’s U-turn, suspecting force from higher-ups. Kokkinakis supported Blockx and called for the practice court covers to be moved farther away.

This wasn’t the first time Roland Garros’s court covers caused chaos. 9 years ago, Roland Garros saw yet another Belgian player, David Goffin, slip on the running tarpaulins kept on the back of a court. For Goffin, the incident occurred during his third-round match against Horacio Zeballos, prompting the Belgian to withdraw from the event after a promising campaign on the Parisian clay.

For Alexander Blockx, the injury could not have come at a worse time, as the Belgian player was having his best clay-court season and his second-round opponent was someone against whom he had recently played a good match.

Alexander Blockx Was Having His Best Clay-Court Season

Heading into Roland Garros, Blockx had won 12 of the 15 matches he had played on clay. At the first Australian Open, he did not receive direct entry but advanced through qualifying and ended up losing in the first round.

However, the Belgian improved on clay, reaching the third round in Monte-Carlo as a qualifier, where he faced Alex de Minaur.

The match was a slugfest: Blockx had an early break in the first set but gave it away, and De Minaur won the set 7-5. Both players held their serves in the second set, and the seasoned Australian edged away the young Belgian in a close tiebreaker. The result did not dishearten Blockx, as he had a semifinal run in Madrid, where he secured wins over the likes of Felix Auger-Aliassime, Francisco Cerundolo, and Casper Ruud, before going down to Alexander Zverev.

However, his performances on sluggish Monte Carlo clay and on the high-altitude clay in Madrid showed that the youngster could adapt to different conditions on the same surface. With the heat in Paris this year, the courts are playing a bit quicker, and the Belgian could have gotten a bit more purchase on his serve and pushed the likes of De Minaur, if not for his unfortunate injury.