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