PARIS — Alexander Blockx’s coach, Ruben Bemelmans, has said that they will consider seeking compensation after the young Belgian twisted his ankle on a tarpaulin at the back of a practice court at Roland Garros.
Blockx, a promising 21-year-old who is ranked No. 37, was playing on practice courts at the Paris Jean-Bouin club, a few minutes from the complex, on Tuesday. Blockx sprained his ankle toward the end of a session with Brazil’s João Fonseca, which forced him to withdraw from his French Open second-round match against No. 8 seed Alex de Minaur.
“Unfortunately during today’s practice I heard a snap in my ankle while I sprained it thanks to the ‘really necessary’ covers at the back of the court @rolandgarros which is why I had to withdraw from tomorrow’s match that I was really looking forward to. A lot of frustration but we move on,” he wrote in a now-deleted post on Instagram.
He then reposted his message, without the “really necessary” statement.
But on Wednesday, Bemelmans said in a video interview that the team would investigate possible recompense. “For sure, there’s no signs (saying) ‘careful about covers in the back,’” he said.
“Are the covers necessary in Jean-Bouin? I don’t think so. There should be a solution for that because the courts are very narrow. There’s not much space behind the courts. So in my opinion, it shouldn’t be there or there should be another solution other than putting them on the ground.
“Because the speed of the game is getting so quick, and I mean the courts there are very very narrow. … There can be other solutions than putting them on the ground.
“Even if you look at the match court, they are much much bigger, and even there the guys are returning from way behind the baseline because the speed of the game is increasing.
“Back in the day, you could defend your line and put yourself on the baseline and attack the ball there, but now it’s become so physical and you need to play from the back and then try to gain your position after a few shots. But yeah, that’s unfortunately what happened to Alex.”
Bemelmans, a former world No. 84, said he had given his feedback to tournament officials. Romain Rosenberg, the executive director of the Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA), said via text message that a doubles coach had complained to him this week about the safety of the Jean-Bouin practice courts because of, among other concerns, the lack of space behind the baseline.
“Players have complained about the safety of those courts for a while,” he said.
A spokesperson for the French Tennis Federation (FFT), which organizes the French Open, was not immediately available for comment.
The incident is reminiscent of one involving another Belgian. In 2017, Bemelmans’ former Belgium Davis Cup team-mate David Goffin twisted his ankle on tarpaulin at the back of a court at Roland Garros. Goffin, ranked No. 12 at the time, was forced to retire from a tournament match against Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos and was then out for more than six weeks.
Cases of players being compensated for injuries suffered at a tournament are rare. One of the most high-profile cases saw the United States Tennis Association (USTA) found in 2018 to be responsible for 75 precent of Eugenie Bouchard’s damages suffered at the U.S. Open three years earlier. Bouchard had suffered a concussion after slipping on a cleaning substance on the floor at the U.S. Open in September 2015 and was forced to withdraw from the tournament and subsequent events.
