Alexander Blockx made his Roland Garros main draw with a straight-set win over Coleman Wong. But before his second-round match, he injured his ankle while practicing with Joao Fonseca at the Paris Jean-Bouin club.
Blockx twisted his ankle on the tarpaulin at the back of the practice court toward the end of the session. He then took to his Instagram to announce his withdrawal from the tournament.
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.
Check out his post here:
Check out his post here:
But Blockx deleted the post and uploaded another one, without the Roland Garros part. And as expected, this has confused the tennis community because no reason has been given as to why the post was modified.
Alexander Blockx has left the fans wondering why he had to edit out the statement blaming Roland Garros from his post. This started speculation that Roland Garros contacted him to remove the statement blaming the tournament.
Check out their reactions here:
In the second round, he was scheduled to face eighth seed Alex de Minaur. The Aussie ace has scheduled his third-round match against 26th seed Jakub Mensik.
Blockx's coach, Ruben Bemelmans, during his interview with The Athletic, revealed that they are considering seeking compensation from the French Open. Bemelmans also questioned the need for the covers to be located at the back of the court.
For sure, there's no signs (saying) 'careful about covers in the back'. 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.
Before the French Open, Blockx made his Grand Slam main draw debut at the Australian Open, where Jaime Faria ended his run in the first round. His recent performances on the clay swing took him to a career-high ranking of No.36.
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.
Ruben Bemelmans addedBack in 2015, former WTA ace Eugenie Bouchard suffered a concussion after a severe fall in the locker room and was compensated by the United States Tennis Association (USTA). Another Belgian was forced to withdraw from the French Open due to a similar reason. In 2017, David Goffin also twisted his ankle on a tarp while chasing a ball.
Blockx made his clay-court Masters 1000 debut at the Monte-Carlo Masters, where he suffered a third-round exit. But later at the Madrid Open, the Belgian ace knocked out three top 20 wins before losing to eventual runner-up Alexander Zverev in the semifinals. He made it to the third round of the Italian Open, where the three-time Grand Slam finalist again ended his run.
Blockx has yet to win a tour-level title. Last year, he finished as the runner-up at the Next-Gen ATP Finals, losing the match to Learner Tien.
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