The crowd, the boos, insults, handshakes: the Roland Garros 2023 comes grotesque

• Tennis News
• Editors Thoughts

Aryna Sabalenka waited for Elina Svitolina at the net at the end of the Roland Garros 2023 quarterfinal match, hoping to shake her hand. A gesture that Ukraine considered on a par with a provocation. Svitolina did not shake the Belarusian's hand and, at the press conference, expressed her thoughts on the incident without mincing words.

"I don't know what she honestly expected, because my statements about the handshake had been very clear. I expected the boos, they didn't surprise me. Did Sabalenka inflame the situation with her gesture? I think so, unfortunately," said the Ukrainian tennis player.

But this is just one of the many moments that are making this edition of the French Open unruly, exaggerated and sometimes grotesque. It looks like a black comedy, with many protagonists. The crowd, the boos, insults, handshakes, bad moments on and off the court.

For better or for worse, as long as we talk about it. But here we are going too far for a sport like tennis. The crowd as main protagonist. Whistles for everyone. For Novak Djokovic, for Elina Svitolina, for Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe, for Daria Kasatkina, Daniil Medvedev.

The incredible issue which involved the doubles formed by the Polish Aldila Sutjiadi and the Japanese Miyu Kato. They were disqualified from the Slam tournament. Kato, at the end of a won game, sent a ball towards the opposite side of the court with a not particularly powerful backhand.

The trajectory, very high, inadvertently hit a ball girl in the chest area. The girl burst into tears in pain, drawing the attention of the chair umpire and the opposing duo, the Czech Marie Bouzkova and the Spanish Sara Sorribes Tormo, who then noticed the situation.

Many fans were angered at Sorribes and Bouzkova, alleging that they went to the chair umpire with the intent to have Kato and Sutjiadi defaulted. Also, fans were angered at seeing Sorribes Tormo and Bouzkova smiling when the tournament officials appeared to agree on a default for Kato and Sutjiadi.

Aryna Sabalenka's refusal to have an open press conference, where she was bombarded with questions about the War and the President of Belarus Lukashenko. Marta Kostyuk, booed by the crowd - the most unruly and rudest crowd in the history of the tournament - after the loss to Sabalenka.

And her statements: "I did not expect all this. I have no reaction to it but I have to say that honestly the people in the crowd have been embarrassing. I want to know how they will feel about boos in ten years, when the war is over.

I honestly don't think they'll feel good about it." The match between Holger Rune and Francisco Cerundolo suddenly turned on due to a wrong referee decision that penalized the Argentine in one of the main phases of the third set.

Chair umpire Kader Nouni not only missed the double bounce of the ball before Rune made his play, but also considered Cerundolo's hint of protest as an interruption of the point. The referee then awarded the 15 to the Dane, when Cerundolo could have closed with a comfortable smash despite the oversight.

The Argentine didn't appreciate the referee's mistake at all and said clearly: "I hope they fine you." Frances Tiafoe, eliminated by Alexander Zverev, at the press conference said: "I tried to get the crowd involved sometimes and do stuff like that, but they were in Sascha's favor.

I got up a couple times and they really didn't hear me. I told myself to stay calm and just do my thing." Daniil Medvedev became the protagonist of a new curtain with the crowd during the challenge. It all happened after the Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild hit the line, even if Medvedev was not convinced of the call and stopped for a long time to look at the mark, believing that the ball was out.

The umpire came down to check, confirming the initial decision and giving the point to Seyboth. The Russian wanted to ask the chair umpire for further explanations and the spectators began to boo him. Given the reaction, Daniil with a nasty gesture ordered the fans to be silent, putting his index finger to his mouth.

The amount of boos (naturally) increased immediately after this action of the Russian champion. Then Djokovic's words: "My relationship with the crowd in Paris has had its ups and downs throughout my career.vI have received a lot of support over the years, I think of the seasons where I was losing a lot of finals or the last points before winning the title.

I have received a lot of support and love, and I am very grateful for that. But there are individuals, some groups sometimes, who love to boo your every single gesture.vI find this really disrespectful, frankly I don't understand it. But it's their right: they paid for the ticket."