Britain’s Katie Boulter has led calls for the French Open to take away on-court sponsorship boards after Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez said tripping over one left her needing stitches.
Sonmez had to retire from her doubles match on Friday after colliding with one of the foot-high indicators while chasing a ball.
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The 24-year-old said was left with a bruised knee after the incident and needed two stitches.
“Do we really have to wait until a player is seriously injured before these courtside boards are removed?” Sonmez wrote on social media.
“Player safety must come first.”
Boulter escaped harm in a comparable incident during her singles match on Thursday, but said the commercial blocks are an pointless hazard.
“These things have to go,” Boulter wrote. “[I] got lucky last night but next time I might not be.”
Four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek and Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, who said she does not chase some balls due to worry of harm, also said the boards should be eliminated.
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The French Tennis Federation (FFT) has been contacted for remark.
How boards, covers and line judges have become obstacles
Sonmez is not the first participant to be injured because of the tight space behind the Roland Garros baselines.
The Paris heatwave has produced firmer, bouncier courts, which means gamers need to stand further behind the baseline to obtain serve.
Belgium’s Alexander Blockx was pressured to withdraw from the males’s singles earlier this week after spraining his proper ankle when he landed on a tarpaulin rain cowl at the Jean Bouin observe facility, a short stroll from Roland Garros.
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Blockx said on social media he “heard a snap” in his ankle and sarcastically blamed the “really necessary” covers.
The world quantity 37 later edited his post to take away the reference to the covers.
As nicely as sponsorship boards and covers, there has also been another impediment on Roland Garros’ smaller outside courts – line judges.
The French Open is the only main match that still has line judges.
Both ATP and WTA Tours use digital line calling and Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerundolo says it is “very tough” for the gamers to alter to.
Cerundolo beat Britain’s Jacob Fearnley on a smaller court, where line judges had to nimbly transfer out of his means, before knocking out prime seed Jannik Sinner on Court Philippe Chatrier.
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“It is weird to play with line judges – especially on the shorter courts,” Cerundolo informed BBC Sport.
“I played all my life with line judges but now over the last year we played without them so it is very different.
“You have to be prepared to not hit them and say ‘please go back and transfer to the aspect’. You have to adapt again.”
Juan Manuel Cerundolo avoids sponsorship blocks, rain covers and line judges during his match against Britain’s Jacob Fearnley on court eight [BBC Sport]
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