The biggest obstacle at the 2026 French Open for many players isn’t their opponent, it’s a court-side advertisement. Turkish player Zeynep Sönmez was forced to retire Friday after tripping over a court-side advertisement and sustaining a knee injury.
Sönmez’s Injury and Retirement
Sönmez, who was taking part in a women’s doubles match with Tatjana Maria, sustained the injury just two games into the match. The injury occurred as Sönmez was chasing down a ball near the back wall of the court.
As Sönmez was running after the ball, she tripped over a small, raised Lacoste advertisement placed on the court. Sönmez was forced to retire from the match after sustaining a knee injury. After the match, she said the injury required two stitches.
Calls for Advertisement Removal
She also called for the French Open to remove the advertisements from the court, citing other incidents in which players have collided with the ads. In a post on X, Sönmez asked, “Do we really have to wait until a player is seriously injured before these court-side boards are removed?”
Sönmez was responding to a tweet by British tennis player Katie Boulter, who also tripped over one of the raised Lacoste advertisements during a match. In her post, Boulter argued that the Lacoste ads “have to go.”
Match Result
At the time of the injury, Sönmez and Maria were trailing 2-0 in the first set. Their opponents, Dayana Yastremska and Anhelina Kalinina, advanced on a walkover.