French Open star’s horror fall after crashing into advertising board | Tennis | Sport

French Open star Zeynep Sonmez was forced to retire from her women’s doubles match after suffering a freak injury. The Turk was partnered with Tatjana Maria for the tournament and faced Dayana Yastremska and Anhelina Kalinina in the second round.

However, in the early stages of the encounter, Sonmez was attempting to return a ball towards the back of the court when she tripped over a mini advertisement hoarding. It was placed roughly three meters away from the baseline towards the back of the court, but that didn’t stop it from interfering with play.

Sonmez tumbled straight into the wall and required immediate medical attention from the physios. But it was decided after an inspection from the physio that Sonmez wouldn’t be able to continue, forcing the duo into a retirement just three points into the first set.

Understandably, fans were left raging with the organizers for leaving them in a dangerous spot, with @TimTtam77 writing on social media: “People talked about this just yesterday and how dangerous it is. If Roland Garros had listened, this injury would have never happened today…”

@AliceStainer said: “This is ridiculous. Poor Sonmez!”

@ScapularTwitch added: “I don’t know why they’ve ever allowed these ads that are clearly in the players’ way. Mind-boggling.”

@popalorena said: “Unfortunately it happened again today, and unfortunately Sonmez wasn’t lucky to avoid an injury and she was forced to retire. @rolandgarros do you even care about the players after all these incidents?”

Sonmez had already been knocked out of the singles draw following a first-round defeat to Daria Kasatkina. She is ranked 66th in the world, and has reached the third round of a Grand Slam on two occasions, firstly at Wimbledon last year and the Australian Open earlier this year.

The French Tennis Federation has been approached for comment.