Hewett criticises late court changes at French Open

BBC News

5 hours ago

Alfie Hewett says he is "extremely disappointed" with French Open organisers after his wheelchair singles final was moved to a different court less than an hour before the start "without really consulting the players".The Norfolk player's match against Tokito Oda on Saturday, which he lost 6-4 7-6 (8-6), was switched from Court 14 to being straight after the women's wheelchair final on Suzanne Lenglen. They were only given about 35 minutes to prepare after being informed of the change at just past midday."I understand the reasoning behind it because of the changeable weather this week but I think they could have communicated that the night before - like given us a heads-up and said 'if this quads match goes on longer than the women's final then you boys will be on Lenglen, if it doesn't happen then you will stay on Court 14'," he said. "None of that communication was had the night before, or even in the morning."The BBC have approached Roland Garros and the International Tennis Federation for comment.
As the wheelchair draw progressed there was a lot of discussion around the scheduling and last-minute changes, with different courts offering varied conditions for the players."It's a completely different environment," said Hewett, who won his sixth consecutive Roland Garros doubles title with partner and fellow Brit Gordon Reid, and who - by also finishing with runners-up honours in the singles - improved on his 2024 performance at Roland Garros."Gordy [Gordon Reid] was saying it when we were playing doubles. The ball was slower, the balls pick up more clay because there is more clay on those courts."On the outdoor courts it's slightly livelier, it's slightly bouncier, there's shorter back runs. It completely changes the tactical game of the match and usually you know that you're going to be playing on a show court, so you practice on that court beforehand."As elite-level athletes who are competing for the top prizes in tennis, a lot of thought goes into pre-match preparations for the wheelchair players - not just at the Grand Slams but every week they compete on tour."I'm not one to come out here and criticise tournaments often because I know we are as players, and I am, incredibly grateful to be at events like this, to be celebrating wheelchair tennis and showcasing it on a big stage but what happened today was unacceptable," said Hewett."There are standards I believe that have got to be set and you know as players we weren't listened to, we weren't heard. "We tried to ask for the court to be pushed back, but unfortunately the priority was for fans to watch the women's final on a screen rather than giving the wheelchair players more time to warm-up and prepare for a Grand Slam singles final."This isn't me making excuses for my performance, Tokito was in exactly the same boat as me. I'm very happy with the way I performed actually. "This is more about the players and our welfare, and actually treating us like professionals, because I can guarantee there's no way Jannik Sinner or [Novak] Djokovic would get told 'sorry you can't have a proper practice, you've got to go on court in 30 minutes'."He added: "You put everything on the line for these matches. It's not the reason why I lost the singles final - Tokito was the better player in the bigger moments - but these are the things that people higher up have got to take into consideration - and which I know they are taking into consideration with the other players."They didn't take that into consideration with us and I feel really disappointed in that."