Veteran players Tsonga, Simon receive French Open wild cards

Associated PressMay 10, 2022, 2:46 PM EDT

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PARIS – Veteran French players Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon have been handed wild cards to play in the main draw at the French Open.

A former Australian Open runner-up, Tsonga announced earlier this season that he will retire after the clay-court Grand Slam event. Play begins at Roland Garros on May 22.

Simon said he is retiring at the end of the season after 20 years of playing professional tennis.

Tsonga and Simon are both 37 years old and helped France win the Davis Cup in 2017.

Tsonga reached the semifinals twice at the French Open, in 2013 and 2015. He has won 18 ATP titles and made it to the Australian Open final in 2008, losing to Novak Djokovic.

Tsonga reached a career-high ranking of No. 5 in 2012 but has dropped to No. 263 following his latest lengthy injury layoff. Simon has 14 career titles and a best ranking of sixth in 2009. He is ranked 160th.

“We wanted them to live their final Roland Garros in the main draw, in front of their fans,” tournament director Amelie Mauresmo said. “And also to thank them for what they have done throughout their career.”

The 12 wild card entries for the main draw announced Tuesday were allocated to French players. In addition to Tsonga and Simon, the French tennis federation said Lucas Pouille, Corentin Moutet, Manuel Guinard and Gregoire Barrere were also invited to play at Roland Garros.

In the women’s draw, the wild cards were awarded to Tessah Andrianjafitrimo, Fiona Ferro, Elsa Jacquemot, Leolia Jeanjean, Chloe Paquet and Harmony Tan.

On Monday, Katie Volynets and Michael Mmoh earned the U.S. Tennis Association’s wild-card entries. The USTA and French tennis federation offer reciprocal wild-card invitations for each other’s Grand Slam events.

The French federation has a similar agreement with Tennis Australia. The two wilds-card entries granted to Australian players have yet to be announced.

At French Open, Francisco Cerundolo is mad at chair umpire over Holger Rune’s double-bounce

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 8:49 PM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS – Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina was devastated about losing his French Open fourth-round match to Holger Rune of Denmark in a fifth-set tiebreaker Monday. He also was mad at chair umpire Kader Nouni for missing a double-bounce of the ball on a point that was awarded to Rune early in his 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) victory.

They were tied at a set apiece and on serve at 2-1 for the No. 6-seeded Rune early in the third at Court Suzanne Lenglen when the point of contention happened. Cerundolo, who was serving at deuce, hit a forehand that skidded low at the baseline and quickly bounced a second time – which normally would have meant that the point was his.

But Rune went ahead and got his racket on the ball, sending it back over the net. At about the same time, No. 23 seed Cerundolo was saying “sorry” to apologize for the odd way his forehand made the ball skim across the clay. Nouni was not immediately aware of the double-bounce, thought the ball was still in play and called Cerundolo for hindrance for talking during a point. That meant Rune got the point, and when he won the next one, too, he had a service break.

“It was unbelievable, because it was a clear double-bounce. I was mad at the umpire because he has to see it,” Cerundolo said. “It’s his fault.”

In tennis, electronic line-calling is used at many tournaments to make line calls, but replays are not used to check things like double-bounces or whether a point should be lost because a player touches the net, which is not allowed.

And while Cerundolo put the onus on the official, he also thought Rune could have ceded the point because of the double-bounce.

“For sure, I wish he would have done that, because it was a big moment,” Cerundolo said.

Rune, who moved into a matchup against No. 4 Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals, said he saw a replay after the following point, and “saw it was a double bounce. But the point already happened, and he called the score. So I felt sorry.”

But, Rune added: “This is tennis. This is sports. Some umpires, they make mistakes. Some for me; some for him. That’s life.”

Gael Monfils withdraws from French Open with wrist injury

Associated PressJun 1, 2023, 11:34 AM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS — A thrilling five-set victory took a toll on Gael Monfils, whose withdrawal from the French Open handed No. 6 Holger Rune a walkover to the third round.

The 36-year-old Frenchman said he has a strained left wrist and can’t continue.

He battled Sebastian Baez for nearly four hours on Court Philippe Chatrier before beating the Argentine 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 in a first-round match that ended at 12:18 a.m. local time.

The victory was Monfils’ first at tour level this year, as the veteran was coming back from heel surgery.

“Actually, physically, I’m quite fine. But I had the problem with my wrist that I cannot solve,” he said. “The doctor say was not good to play with that type of injury. Yesterday was actually very risky, and then today definitely say I should stop.”

Monfils reached the semifinals at the French Open in 2008 and made it to the quarterfinals on three other occasions.