Monday, May 25, 2015

TENNIS: Federer Fumes After Court Invasion


Roger Federer was angered by the apparent lack of on-court security at the French Open

Roger Federer criticized French Open security after he was intercepted on court by a young spectator at the end of his first-round victory over Alejandro Falla.

A boy ran on court and made persistent attempts to take a photograph with the Swiss as he tried to leave the Philippe Chatrier court, before security finally intervened.

Federer cruised to a 6-3 6-3 6-4 win over Colombian Falla but the 17-time grand slam champion was angry about the incident, saying it was not the first time it had happened at the tournament.

"I'm not happy about it, obviously not for one second am I happy about it," Federer said.

Press Association reports:
"It happened yesterday in the practice, too. It's just a kid, but then three more kids came.

"And today on Centre court where you would think this is a place where nobody can come on, he just wanders on and nothing happens.

"It happened during the final in 2009 as well for me. So I definitely think something needs to happen quickly.

"Normally I only speak on behalf of myself, but in this situation I think I can speak on behalf of all the players, that where you do your job, that's where you want to feel safe.

"And so clearly I'm not happy about it. But nothing happened, so I'm relieved. But clearly it wasn't a nice situation to be in."

Saturday was 'Kid's Day' at Roland Garros and Federer was again approached for photographs by youngsters while he practiced on Court 3.

The 33-year-old said he received a personal apology from Roland Garros tournament director Gilbert Ysern after his match against Falla, but insisted similar incidents cannot happen again.

"First, it should never happen," Federer said.

"There are so many players, so many fans, so much focus by the media on Roland Garros that people should react much more quickly.

"That's true as well for the other tournaments. I think it's essential. I think that's in terms of safety, they should be well-educated. They should know what they do.

"It's not just being there, standing there on the courts wearing a nice tie and suit.

"It's not that funny and I hope there is going to be a reaction from the tournament.

"They apologized, and I must say that I appreciated this, but I'd like to see what's going to happen next."

Player safety has been a major concern in tennis since 1993 when American Monica Seles was stabbed by a spectator in Hamburg.

Ysern said the young boy had been banned from the rest of the tournament but believes allowing him to enter the court had been an error of judgement rather than procedure.

"Roger has grounds to be unhappy," Ysern said.

"It's not the end of the world, we should not make too big a case of it, but it is embarrassing.

"When something like that happens it shows we as an organization have made a mistake and we have to correct that and make sure it doesn't happen again.

"There is no reason at this stage to change the security procedure, it was just a lack of judgement.

"Clearly the people who were on court did not do their job the way they should have done.

"We all know in tennis, like in other sports, crowds cluster around players looking for signatures, autographs and pictures.

"That is where the lack of judgement lies because the security people's instinct must have been that it was acceptable, which it is clearly not.

"All the security people will have the message reinforced that nobody is allowed to go on court in any case, at any time, for any reason."

Federer's compatriot Stan Wawrinka also made it through to the second round after a comfortable 6-3 6-2 6-3 win over Turkey's Marsel Ilhan, while the surprise of the day came on Court 7, where 25th seed Ivo Karlovic lost to Cypriot veteran Marcos Baghdatis.

Croatia's Karlovic served 21 aces but could not prevent a 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 6-4 defeat to Baghdatis, who is due to face Federer in round three.

Seeds Kei Nishikori, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Philipp Kohlschreiber are all safely through.
British trio Andy Murray, Aljaz Bedene and Kyle Edmund play their opening matches on Monday.

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