HICCUPS & HIGH-JINKS ON DAY 1 OF THE FRENCH OPEN TENNIS BY GLOBAL CHICK FOR 10SBALLS

Written by: Global Chick on 24th May 2015

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

HICCUPS & HIGH-JINKS ON DAY 1 OF THE FRENCH OPEN TENNIS BY GLOBAL CHICK FOR 10SBALLS

epa04765582 Spectators cheer as Kei Nishikori of Japan plays against Paul-Henri Mathieu of France during their first round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 24 May 2015. EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT |

Ah Roland Garros – the queues for the concessions, the laid back Sunday start, and some interesting things on day one. Here goes with our recap!

First up on Chatrier was last year’s finalist Simona Halep, who has really grown in confidence in some areas in leaps and bounds this year, but having to deal with the pressures of defending really big points this year.

She has had a decent clay court season by most people’s standards, making two semi-finals (Stuttgart and Rome) but suffering a surprise opening exit in Madrid where she was on the hook to defend her finalist points from last year.

Simona Halep of Romania in action against Evgeniya Rodina of Russia during their first round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 24 May 2015. EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT

Never one to be cowed, she pragmatically declared this was not a tragedy and she once again showed that it may not be about winning prettily, but more about scrapping her way to the win, that would set her on her path once more this year.

Against Evgeniya Rodina, she met a determined opponent who was not swayed by going down 1-4 in the opening set. And battled back at her, to level at 5-5. With Halep edging the first set, it was the more self-assured Romanian to take her chance break for a 4-3 lead, only to hand it right back (perhaps taking entente cordiale a little far on day one, we think). Halep kept her nerve and snapped back again before taking it in straight sets 7-5 6-4.

Did it have to be perfect? Well no. Was she worried?

“I was enjoying a lot (today). I tried just to be focused for what I have to do on court to play my game. It was a great day for me. I just want to enjoy it.” she said after the match.

Perhaps the real drama of the day though was to follow when after a fairly routine win for Roger Federer over Alejandro Falla came as a fan jumped over the barriers, wanting to take a selfie with the 2009 champion. To give Federer his due, he handled it well, keeping a little distance until security (eventually) came along to hustle the kid off the court, but remember – this is a court where the press are forbidden for taking a cuppa and a bag of Haribo gummy bears onto the press tribune seats, yet just two years ago, co-ordinated protests were held in Suzanne Lenglen court and masked protestors jumped the barriers with lit flares during the men’s final between Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer. Not good enough.

Roger Federer of Switzerland in action against Alejandro Falla of Colombia during their first round match for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 24 May 2015. EPA/ETIENNE LAURENT

While the tournament officials offered their apologies, Federer was not mincing his words about the incident.

“I’m not happy about it,” he said, before describing that it had happened in practice too. “On the court is where we work, we should feel safe.”

The tournament director Gilbert Ysern had to face the press to answer for not only that but also an embarrassing article which chose to focus more on Stan Wawrinka’s personal life than his attempts to add a second Slam title to his trophy cabinet.

He said: “[Federer] has good grounds for being unhappy. It was just a lack of judgment this afternoon. Clearly the security people who were on court did not do the job the way they should have done, of course, to say the least.”

He continued, with regards to Wawrinka: “Given what we have on the Internet, so many people write so many things, so many papers. It’s complicated to control all levels, but we have to do this. When we missed this yesterday, we tried to catch up. Of course, we got rid of this paper, and that’s all. Everybody has faults. We have to admit it.”

Fans want to be close to players, and at Roland Garros the courts seem ridiculously easy to gain access to. Stars like Federer are also a prime target, as we saw in the 2009 final. And in light of the horrific attacks in Paris at the start of the year, security ought to be at its highest.

With the tournament hitting full swing on Monday, let’s hope that the procedures get completely nailed down. It’s a nice touch to kick this off with half a schedule on the Sunday, and crowds got some great action, although do spare a thought for France’s WTA Rising Star Caroline Garcia.

The pressure of playing on the main court took its toll as she came out on the unfriendly side of a three-setter and visibly upset in press admitted she would have preferred to be anywhere else.

She said: “I wanted to play on a smaller court. They decided to organize the match on centre court, on Philippe Chatrier, and I practiced for the whole week. But it’s very different. This is something that I know, and I will draw lessons from that. For next year I hope I will go through to the next round.

“It does encapsulate what Roland Garros is. For me, it’s too much to play on this court, and next year I will ask to play on court No. 9, a sort of hidden court where there is nobody.”

Other notables through with nary a graze were Kei Nishikori, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and last year’s perhaps surprise semi-finalist Ernests Gulbis won just his third match of the year, although the crowd enjoyed giving him a big booing as he left the court.

Play begins on Monday after a café au lait and a pain au chocolat at 11am CET.

Topics: Alejandro Falla, Evgeniya Rodina, Federer, French Open Tennis, global chick, RG2015, Roland Garros, Simona Halep, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

May 24, 2015 at 11:28 am

HICCUPS & HIGH-JINKS ON DAY 1 OF THE #FrenchOpenTennis BY GLOBAL CHICK FOR @10sBalls_com- http://t.co/qjj5Lm3dZ1 #RG15 #FrenchOpen #tennis
rfsatar says:

May 24, 2015 at 11:38 am

RT @10sBalls_com: HICCUPS & HIGH-JINKS ON DAY 1 OF THE #FrenchOpenTennis BY GLOBAL CHICK FOR @10sBalls_com- http://t.co/qjj5Lm3dZ1 #RG15 #F…