Monte-Carlo tournament director, Zeljko Franulovic has denied responsibility for Thanasi Kokkinakis’s injury that he suffered during his first round match with Karen Khachanov.
The Australian suffered the injury over a week ago after falling on one of the foam cushions at the back of the court. Kokkinakis did complete the match however the injury is much more serious than first anticipated after he was seen leaving the tournament on crutches. It has now been revealed that he has suffered a hairline fracture on his kneecap and will be out of action for two months, which leaves him a doubt for Wimbledon.
Other players were also not happy with the cushion and were concerned for the well-being of the players, especially Alexander Zverev as you can see below:
https://twitter.com/doublefault28/status/986910470270578688
However the tournament director, Zeljko Franulovic, has denied responsibility for Kokkinakis’s injuries and says that having the cushion at the back of the court is well within the rules, “There is a distance of more than six meters from the baseline to the back of the court, which is widely within the rules of the ATP,” said Franulovic. “I didn’t see the incident itself, but I know it happened in the heat of the game. He could have also hit the fridge that is on the side or something else. I know we are totally within the rules. Sometimes even a player can trip and fall on the court itself. You can always say it was too wet or too dry. But I know here the length behind the court on each side is longer than any other tournament almost. I mean, it’s one of the longest ones we have. The cushions are only foam, they’re not rigid.”
He concluded his conference call with, “We are all very sorry for Kokkinakis, of course, more than anyone else. We can’t have 20 meters on each side of the court.”
Of course last year, current world number 10, David Goffin had a lengthy spell on the sidelines after twisting his ankle on the tarp at the back of the court at Roland Garros.
