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 season’s second grand slam, Federer and Wawrinka both romped into the second round before blasting organisers for shocking breaches of their personal space.
• Video: kid’s lob stuns Roger Federer
• Mirka Federer ‘heckles’ 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 “s**t article” on the tournament’s official website that aired his personal life.
Tournament director Gilbert Ysern was compelled to apologise for the “embarrassing” security lapse after Federer claimed he’d also been targeted in practice on Saturday.
“I am not happy about it. It happened yesterday in the practice, too. It’s just a kid, but then three more kids came,” Federer said.
“And today on centre court where you would think this is a place where nobody can come on, just wanders on and nothing happens.
“Something 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 that’s where you do your job, that’s where you want to feel safe.
“And so clearly I’m not happy about it. But nothing happened, so I’m relieved. But clearly it wasn’t a nice situation to be in.”
Stanislas Wawrinka felt his privacy was invaded. Photo: Getty
If upsetting the sport’s biggest name wasn’t enough, Federer’s Davis Cup teammate was left irate after a story supposedly previewing his first-round match against Turkey’s Marsel Ilhan accused Wawrinka of leaving his ex-wife and young daughter “to fend for themselves”.
The article, removed from the tournament’s official website on Sunday morning but still accessible on social media, also claimed Wawrinka “may have more in common with 18-year-old Croat phenom Donna Vekic than just an agent.”
The 2014 Australian Open champion condemned “the completely stupid article” after his 6-3 6-2 6-3 victory and demanded heads roll.
“It’s the official website of a grand slam, so I hope the guy who did that article is not a journalist,” Wawrinka said.
“I 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 that’s it.”
Wawrinka said he saw the story on Saturday night.
“I told the tournament that I wasn’t really happy about it and I don’t think it was great for the tournament to do that shit article,” he said.
“That’s it. But after that, you know, I’m here to play tennis and to focus on my game. I can put that on the side, and that’s it.”
The two incidents involving the usually unflappable Swiss stars completely overshadowed the on-court action on day one.
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez was the only men’s 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 year’s runner-up Simona Halep led the way on an upset-free day in the women’s event.