French Open 2023 Day-01 recap: Aryna Sabalenka-Marta Kostyuk controversy and more
The opening day of the 2023 French Open was an eventful one as it had it all, from thrilling encounters to an upset or two to drama.
WTA second seed Aryna Sabalenka beat Marta Kostyuk while third seed Jessica Pegula got the better of compatriot Danielle Collins. On the men's front, Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas both booked their respective spots in the second round with wins over Laslo Djere and Jiri Vesely respectively.
Five seeded players bit the dust in the opening round, most notably Maria Sakkari who lost 7-6 (5), 7-5 to Karolina Muchova. Magda Linette, Zhang Shuai, Lorenzo Sonego and Dan Evans were the other seeds who were knocked out on Day 1 of the French Open.
Overall, the opening day at Roland Garros also had its fair share of drama, with even the crowd getting involved at a point. It was quite an eventful day of tennis which will undoubtedly keep the spectators excited for the upcoming days.
On that note, here are three talking points from Day 1 of the French Open.
#1 Aryna Sabalenka vs Marta Kostyuk controversy
A match between Marta Kostyuk and a player from Russia or Belarus nowadays is guaranteed of having drama. When the Ukrainian was drawn against Aryna Sabalenka in the French Open's first round, many expected a few fiery moments to come out of it.
The match was nothing out of the ordinary, with Sabalenka winning 6-3, 6-2, but what followed was controversial.
Kostyuk has not indulged in a post-match handshake with an opponent from Russia or Belarus for some time now and maintained the tradition against the World No. 2. This did not go down well with the crowd on Court Philippe Chatrier and they began booing the 20-year-old as she left the court.
Sabalenka initially thought that the boos were intended for her and even gave a sarcastic bow before realizing the crowd was on her side.
Kostyuk said after the match that the French Open crowd should be embarrassed for booing her.
"What happened today, I have to say I didn't expect it. I did not, but I have no reaction to it. People should be honestly embarrassed, but this is not my call. I don't know. I feel fine," she said.
#2 Dan Evans' foot fault controversy
Dan Evans suffered a disappointing opening-round defeat at the French Open to Thanasi Kokkinakis, who beat him 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
After losing the opening set, the Brit tried to fight back in the second set and led 4-1 before being given a foot fault. He was far from pleased with the decision and argued with the chair umpire before hurling a bottle and a racquet. This led to him being given a code violation.
Things went downhill for Evans after the foot fault as Kokkinakis won five games on the trot to take the second set before winning the third.
He expressed his displeasure on the foot fault after the match and hit out at the chair umpire in his post-match press conference. Evans also claimed that the call threw him off and that things were difficult for him from then on.
"Whoever it is up in the chair, they find a way, and they're good at it. They get involved plenty. They need to look back at Rome. They get involved on this surface when there's really no need to," he stated.
"I obviously knew it was a rule, but tend to know where my feet are, where I'm standing. It (the foot fault) obviously threw me quite a bit terms of knowing where I was then serving from. My technique sort of got thrown out. Yeah, it was difficult from then on."
#3 Zhang Shuai breaks down in post-match press conference
Zhang Shuai has endured a disastrous and difficult run of form, with her last singles win coming in Lyon nearly four months back. Seeded 29th at the French Open, the 34-year-old suffered her eighth successive defeat as she lost 6-1, 6-1 to World No. 88 Magdalena Frech.
Zhang Shuai could not speak for sobbing in the press conference with Chinese media. Didn't play Toyko Olympics and had big conflicts with Chinese Tennis Federation. Under tremendous pressure and mentally exhausted after almost three years without coming back to China... https://t.co/8fPDgO6Yrg
Zhang, who has been unable to visit China for three years now, broke down in tears during her post-match press conference and found it hard to speak.