Garbine Muguruza had to endure an extremely painful loss in the French Open 4th round at the hands of home favorite Kiki Mladenovic. The Frenchwoman was definitely lifted by the French crowd that at time was a bit too harsh against Garbine that broke down in tears when leaving the court and during the press conference.
Elina Svitolina
World no.1 (Year to date rankings) Elina Svitolina posted a long message on Facebook criticizing the journalists (too much attention on Kiki), the French crowd (no respect of Kiki’s opponents) and Mladenovic (for using the help of the crowd).
After this message, Elina won’t have many friends in France…
“I’m not searching attention and I don’t want to be mean to anyone but no one deserves what Muguruza has been through today and I’m very upset about what I saw because I love my sport and what happened on Lenglen didn’t represent tennis.”
Vs the journalists
“So maybe I’m not the best person to speak about it but as a player I think I have my say. Oh and haters u can stop reading now because it’s gonna be long.
I’ve been extremely SHOCKED by what I heard, saw or read since I arrived in Paris. Yes, you have Mladenovic. Does it mean you have to be unfair with the other players? Journalists, does that mean u have to write a story about her every day instead of just doing your job which is giving REAL INFORMATION? Does that mean you have to agree with everything she says? Does that mean u have to be DISRESPECTFUL towards her opponents or even the remaining players in the draw?”
Vs the crowd
“I watched the replay of the end of her today’s match and this is literally a SHAME for tennis. French crowd doesn’t care about the game, about players, about the beauty of sport. Admittedly, they are involved in their players’ matches, but supporting someone DOES NOT MEAN being DISRESPECTFUL, UNSPORTSMANLIKE, RACIST, HURTFUL towards the opponent. Every player is a human being, has a heart and emotions and lives for tennis and NOBODY HAS THE RIGHT to destroy someone to tears. Wake up French crowd, stop being so HEARTLESS: this is not what sport is about.”
Vs Mladenovic
“Every decent player would be ashamed to have a crowd that behaves this way. Every good person wouldn’t accept it. But what can u expect from someone who is constantly and publicly speaking badly about everyone for no reason, and whos ready to invent anything or to celebrate every error of her”opponents to win ?. That’s not how champions behave. I actually don’t have many friends out there but I truly hope that whoever wins this RG is someone who represents and conveys the true values of tennis. And I hope that anyone who feels concerned by this post will think about it and watch Garbiñe’s post-match press conference”
