Zeynep Sönmez’s avoidable injury at the 2026 French Open, caused by the advertising boards positioned on the court, has sparked widespread outrage, with top players like Iga Świątek and Marta Kostyuk also criticizing the unsafe conditions.
Sönmez was forced to retire from her women’s doubles clash in the second round due to the incident, becoming the latest player affected by the hazard after Katie Boulter and Alexander Blockx.
How Iga Świątek and Marta Kostyuk Reacted to Zeynep Sönmez’s ‘Dangerous’ Incident
While competing in the women’s doubles event with partner Tatjana Maria, Sönmez was chasing a lob when she tripped over the Lacoste advertising board on the back of the court and collapsed to the ground. She was then forced to retire from the contest, sending Anhelina Kalinina and Dayana Yastremska through to the third round.
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
The Turk later revealed that the incident caused her to require stitches and left her with bruising, as she firmly called for the courtside boards to be removed.
“I stand with Katie. 5 incidents in 5 days. I left the court with 2 stitches and a bruised knee. Thankfully, it wasn’t worse. Do we really have to wait until a player is seriously injured before these courtside boards are removed? Player safety must come first,” Sönmez posted.
Iga Świątek did not witness Sönmez’s unfortunate incident, as she took the court for her 6-4, 6-4 win over Magda Linette. However, after hearing about it, the world No. 3 emphasized the need for change in her post-match press conference, highlighting how unsafe the advertising boards can be for players.
“Well, I didn’t see the incidents, but I heard about them. And obviously, if these things happen, there needs to be a reaction because there are other ways for Lacoste to be visible. It’s hard sometimes to judge. Obviously on clay court, we need more space sometimes because the balls are flying higher and you can use the court a bit more with the spin and everything. It’s a shame and I hope they’re gonna put them in a different place or just put the advertising in a different way there because it’s not safe for sure,” Świątek said.
Meanwhile, Marta Kostyuk pointed to previous incidents in which similar advertising boards had caused harm to players. She disclosed that she often avoids chasing balls that land at the back of the court out of fear of injury. The Ukrainian made these remarks while addressing the media after her 6-4, 6-3 win over Viktorija Golubic in the third round.
“Yeah, I witnessed two injuries like this before, which was Goffin, here. Also Flipkens in Abu Dhabi. I was watching this match and she also stepped on this thing. Yeah it’s terrible. I had one moment in the previous match where she played a really deep lob and I was really far back. Usually I just let it go and I don’t play this ball fully because I prefer to lose the point than get injured,” Kostyuk said.
“That happened a few times. We were in Jean Bouin, we were passing by. Reilly Opelka was practicing. He was standing on this thing as he was returning serves on the practice. We were looking at it and I was like, ‘This doesn’t look good,'” she added.
Kostyuk also sympathized with Sönmez after the “really dangerous” mishap, but expressed skepticism about any changes being made regardless of how strongly players raised their concerns about the hazard.
“It’s really dangerous. I’m obviously very sorry for Zeynep. Hopefully it’s nothing very serious. But it happened few times. I try to be very careful with this. I’m aware of it. I just let it go. I don’t know what can be done with it. I don’t think there’s much you can do. Honestly I feel like there are some rules, no matter what happened, they cannot be changed. No matter how much you speak about it and fight over it, it’s just the rules. I don’t know. I cannot say,” she said.
Despite the Ukrainian’s doubts, Roland Garros has released a statement addressing the players’ concerns and confirmed that modifications are being made to the area surrounding the playing surface.
No. 3 seed Iga Świątek and No. 15 seed Marta Kostyuk are now set to lock horns in a highly anticipated fourth-round clash at the French Open. The winner of their blockbuster encounter will face Elina Svitolina or Belinda Bencic in the quarterfinals.
