The Roland Garros organization hasn’t been very lucky so far this year.
Roger Federer heavily complained for the lack of security on court after yesterday accident (see article), now it’s time for his “buddy” Stan Wawrinka to be upset for something worse.
What happened?
The Roland Garros published a strange article “against” Stan citing his personal life (Wawrinka has been through a painful divorce recently). The article was playing on the fact that Stan’s ex-wife name (Ilham) was similar to the opponent Stan had to face in the FO 1st round (Ilhan).
This was the incriminated article.
‘So February 2012, and they were back together, after Stan had failed to make the on court breakthrough that he had anticipated. And as recently as last year Ilham, who is ten years Stan’s senior, and a popular TV presenter in the French speaking part of Switzerland, was here at Roland Garros to stand by her Stan as he made an early exit from the tournament. By then of course, he had entered the select Grand Slam winners’ circle, bagging the Australian Open title in 2014. Married life obviously agreed with the man from Lausanne.
‘Fast forward to April 2015 and the Wawrinkas have split once again. Swiss media was treated to a ‘he said she said’, quite literally, as first Stan announced the separation befoe Ilham responded via the media. And the timing of the announcement could barely have been worse for the number eight seed here at the French, coming as it did in the midst of a run where Stan lost either his first or second match at four ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in a row.
‘We have enjoyed ten fulfilling years with all the ups and downs that every couple experiences, but sometimes life is more challenging than one would hope”, Stan explained on Facebook.
‘Stan’s not losing matches due to our supposedly painful separation because it actually happened five months ago!” Ilham hit back the following day via the Swiss tabloid newspapers, going on to cite “lies and breaches of trust”.
The plot thickened when Wawrinka defeated none other than Rafael Nadal in Rome, only for news/rumour/hearsay/guesswork to filter out a few days later that he may have more in common with 18-year-old Croat phenom Donna Vekic than just an agent. Apparently that news had come from the Vekic camp but it certainly will not put Wawrinka into a relaxed frame of mind heading into a tournament where he should rank among the favourites.
‘But as he has constantly maintained, Stanimal wants to focus on matters of the on court variety. And fortunately for him, he does not have long to wait. He will be one of those on deck for ‘Le Sunday Start’ on 24 May, where he has been drawn against Turkey’s Marsel…Ilhan. ‘Game Ilhan’ ‘Warning Ilhan’ ‘Advantage Ilhan’….’ If Stan can overcome the constant reminders of his muddied personal waters, then maybe he will enjoy a run to the semis, where he is slated to meet his Davis Cup buddy Federer. And that would give Rog a chance to pass on a few tips on how to juggle personal and private lives.’
Stan: Completely stupid article
Wawrinka commented “Completely stupid article. It’s the official website of a Grand Slam, so I hope the guy who did that article is not a journalist. I also hope the guy who is supposed to check all the articles on the website is not working anymore for the tournament. Because for me, for a Grand Slam website, it should be an article about the tennis and that’s it.
I saw the article last night. I told the tournament that I wasn’t really happy about it, and I don’t think it was great for the tournament to do that s*** article. That’s it. But after that, you know, I’m here to play tennis and to focus on my game. I can put that on the side, and that’s it.”
Eventually the organization removed the article from the website… but that was … strange.
| NOT HAPPY…. |
