France’s Kristina Mladenovic has branded the condition of Court 18 at Wimbledon as ‘damaged’ following her second round loss.
Throughout her three-set encounter with America’s Alison Riske, Mladenovic struggled with the court conditions. Twisting her ankle during the warm up and then hurting her knee later on. Speaking about the playing conditions following her loss, the 12th seed claimed that both her and Riske wanted to stop playing ‘in case something bad happens.’
“It’s quite unique with your opponent, after two games, you both agree on stopping playing in a slam.” Said Mladenovic. “You ask the referee to tell you what’s the rule if the both players don’t want to keep on playing. And the answer is that they just can’t do anything, unfortunately, and you have to keep on playing.”
A former finalist in the doubles competition, Mladenovic has plenty of experience playing at SW19. This year is her sixth appearance at Wimbledon. Comparing the court condition to previous years, she believes that there are differences. Once thing she pointed out was a lack of grass in certain areas.
“I feel it’s totally different than the previous years. But, you know, I’m not criticizing. I’m not an expert at all on grass courts. I guess the climate doesn’t help, the fact that it’s too nice, too hot, to sunny, makes everything very dry. That’s what we got as an answer from the officials.”
They are checking what is left from grass on court 18. pic.twitter.com/Q1VNDHl53l
— Dmitry Shakhov (@Shahovez) 6 July 2017
Mladenovic claims the conditions are ‘the talk of the locker room.’ On the same day Australian player Arina Rodionova complained to the umpire that court 14 was ‘too slippery.’ Meanwhile, on court 17 Sorana Cirstea expressed similar views. The Romanian progressed to the third round after Bethanie Mattek-Sands retired with a serious knee injury.
“We all know grass, it’s quite dangerous sometimes. Especially as you get through the days, it’s less grass and more sand or whatever.” She said.
Timea Bacsinszky has said she is ‘disappointed’ with the state of the court this year. Shortly after her second round win on Thursday, the Swiss has questioned the quality of court 18. The same one Mladenovic played on.
“(I’m) kind of pretty disappointed about the quality of the grass of this year. Especially on Court 18, as I played (on it) two days ago.” Said Bacsinszky. “I’m not saying it’s dangerous or something, but it was the second day of the tournament, and it was already ruined. Usually you see that after a week. I don’t know what happened there. I don’t know what happened on the other courts, too.”
Wimbledon responds
In wake of the series of allegations, The All England club has released a statement in relation to the state of Court 18, confirming that both the tournament supervisor and referee deemed the surface ‘playable.’ In it, they have vigorously defended the quality and insisted that the court has been treated the same way as previous years. Furthermore, officials confirm they will continue to monitor the situation.
“The court preparation has been to exactly the same meticulous standard as in previous years. Grass is a natural surface and it is usual for the baselines to start to be showing signs of wear and tear four days into The Championships.” The statement reads.
“The AELTC and Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI) take hardness readings every morning in order to ensure that the courts have the right level of moisture and are playing consistently. No readings of any significance have been taken from Court 18. We will continue to monitor these readings and adjust our care plan for the grass appropriately.”
There is currently no plan to move matches from or make changes to court 18.
