Furious Federer and Wawrinka slam French Open
Swiss aces Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka have turned on French Open officials on a day of sensation at Roland Garros.
In an explosive start to the seasonâs second grand slam, Federer and Wawrinka both romped into the second round before blasting organisers for shocking breaches of their personal space.
â˘Â Video: kidâs lob stuns Roger Federer
⢠Mirka Federer âhecklesâ Wawrinka: video
Federer was furious that a teenage fan managed to access centre court and capture a selfie with the tennis megastar following his 6-3 6-3 6-4 win over Alejandro Falla, while Wawrinka slammed a âs**t articleâ on the tournamentâs official website that aired his personal life.
Tournament director Gilbert Ysern was compelled to apologise for the âembarrassingâ security lapse after Federer claimed heâd also been targeted in practice on Saturday.
âI am not happy about it. It happened yesterday in the practice, too. Itâs just a kid, but then three more kids came,â Federer said.
âAnd today on centre court where you would think this is a place where nobody can come on, just wanders on and nothing happens.
âSomething needs to happen quickly. Normally I only speak on behalf of myself, but in this situation I think I can speak on behalf of all the players, that thatâs where you do your job, thatâs where you want to feel safe.
âAnd so clearly Iâm not happy about it. But nothing happened, so Iâm relieved. But clearly it wasnât a nice situation to be in.â
If upsetting the sportâs biggest name wasnât enough, Federerâs Davis Cup teammate was left irate after a story supposedly previewing his first-round match against Turkeyâs Marsel Ilhan accused Wawrinka of leaving his ex-wife and young daughter âto fend for themselvesâ.
The article, removed from the tournamentâs official website on Sunday morning but still accessible on social media, also claimed Wawrinka âmay have more in common with 18-year-old Croat phenom Donna Vekic than just an agent.â
The 2014 Australian Open champion condemned âthe completely stupid articleâ after his 6-3 6-2 6-3 victory and demanded heads roll.
âItâs the official website of a grand slam, so I hope the guy who did that article is not a journalist,â Wawrinka said.
âI also hope the guy who is supposed to check all the articles on the website is not working anymore for the tournament because, for me, for a grand slam website, it should be an article about the tennis and thatâs it.â
Wawrinka said he saw the story on Saturday night.
âI told the tournament that I wasnât really happy about it and I donât think it was great for the tournament to do that shit article,â he said.
âThatâs it. But after that, you know, Iâm here to play tennis and to focus on my game. I can put that on the side, and thatâs it.â
The two incidents involving the usually unflappable Swiss stars completely overshadowed the on-court action on day one.
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez was the only menâs seed to bow out, the Spaniard falling in five sets to American Steve Johnson, while Kei Nishikori and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were among the big names to join Federer and Wawrinka in advancing to the second round.
Former champion Ana Ivanovic and last yearâs runner-up Simona Halep led the way on an upset-free day in the womenâs event.
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