On Sunday, Roger Federer had to deal with an unwanted surprise after he beat Alejandro Falla at the French Open.
Immediately following the match, a young fan ran onto the court and took a selfie with Federer. The tennis great didn’t object at the time but he took the French Open and their security to task afterwards for not making the surroundings as safe as possible for players.
“I’m not happy about it, obviously not one second I’m happy about it,” Federer said. “It happened [Saturday] in the practice, too. And today on center court, where you would think this is a place where nobody can come on, just wanders on and nothing happens.
“So I definitely think this is [a change] that something needs to happen quickly. But obviously [I] want this to happen immediately. Normally I only speak on behalf of myself, but in this situation I think I can speak on behalf of all the players, that that’s where you do your job, that’s where you want to feel safe. But nothing happened, so I’m relieved. But clearly it wasn’t a nice situation to be in.”
It’d be one thing if this were an isolated incident but this isn’t the first time that Federer has been accosted by a fan at the French Open. Not only did something similar happen at Federer’s practice on Saturday, but a fan also approached Federer during the 2009 French Open as well. FTF director Gilbert Ysern spoke with the press to assure everyone that security would be beefed up to keep players safe.
“Of course [Federer’s] comments made sense,” Ysern said. “He was pissed off with what happened in court. He has good grounds for being unhappy. I think, well, some extent it’s not the end of the world. But it’s embarrassing, of course, for Roland Garros when something like that happens. It simply shows that we collectively as an organization made a mistake and we will have to correct that, of course, and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
If there is a bright spot here, it’s that a security flaw at the French Open was highlighted without anyone getting hurt. Selfies may be a scourge placed upon this planet but at least they aren’t life-threatening.
About Ryan Wong