Tennis player retires from French Open match after falling over advertising block on court

PARIS — Zeynep Sönmez, the Turkish world No. 66, was forced to retire injured from a French Open doubles match Friday after tripping over an advertising block at the back of the court.

Running backwards to hit a backhand, in just the third game of her match with Tatjana Maria against Dayana Yastremska and Anhelina Kalinina, Sönmez tripped on the small Lacoste block and collapsed into the back fence.

She was quickly comforted by Maria, and the umpire Aurélie Tourte instantly called for medical attention. Yastremska and Kalinina also crossed the net to check on her wellbeing. A visibly distressed Sönmez was then seen on court by two medical professionals, one of whom stretched out her right knee. After a few minutes she was helped to her feet, including by Maria, and was then able to walk to her chair unaided, where she received more treatment — including for a cut on the knee.

Zeynep Sonmez, yaşadığı bu talihsiz kazanın ardından çiftler maçından çekilmek zorunda kaldı… #RolandGarros

🙏 Geçmiş olsun Zeynep. pic.twitter.com/8WkRgRpa1z

— Eurosport TR (@Eurosport_TR) May 29, 2026

Sönmez decided she couldn’t continue, and Yastremska and Kalinina were awarded the victory with the score at 2-0 to advance to the third round. Sönmez then limped off the court unaided.

A spokesperson for the French Tennis Federation (FFT) was not immediately available for comment on the incident and the tournament’s policy regarding advertising blocks at the back of courts.

Katie Boulter, the British world No. 71, was involved in a similar incident during her match against Anastasia Potapova a day earlier. Boulter tripped on an advertising block while hitting a forehand and fell to the floor. She was uninjured, but after seeing the Sönmez incident, Boulter posted on X: “THESE THINGS HAVE TO GO. Got lucky last night but next time I might not be…”

On Tuesday, Alexander Blockx, a promising 21-year-old ranked No. 37, twisted his ankle on a tarp at the back of a practice court and was forced to withdraw from the French Open. The following day, his coach Ruben Bemelmans told The Athletic that they were considering seeking compensation for the incident, and had fedback to the tournament that they didn’t think the tarp should have been there.

Back in 2017, fellow Belgian David Goffin twisted his ankle on tarp at the back of a court at Roland Garros. Goffin, ranked No. 12 at the time, was forced to retire from a third-round match against Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos and was then out for more than six weeks.

Sönmez will hope she avoids a similar layoff after a promising 2026 so far. She reached the third round of the Australian Open as a qualifier in January and climbed to a career-high ranking of No. 59 earlier this month. She lost in the first round of the French Open to former world No. 9 Daria Kasatkina on Monday.

Yastremska and Kalinina will next face either Maya Joint and Hanne Vandewinkel or No. 2 seeds Aleksandra Krunić and Anna Danilina in the third round.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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