Queen's Club courts branded 'diabolically slippery' as star speaks out after huge upset
The quality of the courts at Queen's have come under fire on day one of the tournament.
The state of the courts at the Queen’s Club has already come under fire on day one of the cinch Championships.
Seventh seed Holger Rune suffered a massive upset as he lost to Jordan Thompson in three sets after slipping on the grass and complaining about the surface. He later answered whether he thought the conditions were responsible for his loss.
Frances Tiafoe also retired injured after he fell on Court 1 during his first-round match. It sparked retired tennis star John Isner to slam the “diabolically slippery” courts.
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The first day of the ATP 500 at Queen’s has already thrown up some surprising results. Tiafoe, who broke the top 10 exactly a year ago, retired while facing qualifier Rinky Hijikata on the second showcourt.
The American was trailing 5-7 6-4 0-1 when he decided to forfeit the match, falling on the court and landing on his hip. It was later announced that he sustained a right hip injury. It sparked a debate about the quality of the grass at Queen’s, as Isner took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to criticise the surface.
“Queens is undoubtedly one of the best events of year, but the courts are diabolically slippery, especially on Monday and Tuesday. Just ask DelPo. Sucks for Frances, hope he can recover for SW19,” the former world No. 8 wrote.
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Isner referred to an incident from 2019, when Juan Martin Del Potro slipped and landed on his knee. The Argentine had just made a comeback after injuring the same knee at the end of 2018. Since slipping at Queen’s he has only played one match, saying farewell at the 2022 Argentina Open before being forced to retire from professional tennis because of the injury.
Tiafoe will now be in a race against time to be fit enough for Wimbledon, which begins in two weeks’ time. And he wasn’t the only player to take a tumble at the Queen’s Club on Monday. Rune fell several times and complained about the slick surface before going on to lose to Thompson 4-6 7-6(4) 6-3.
After the match, the world No. 15 didn’t want to blame the quality of the grass for his defeat and admitted that he should have done better. “Yeah, it was quite slippery, to be honest. But, yeah, I mean, I think I slipped maybe three times. One time quite important,” he said.
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“But, you know, it's the same on both sides and he managed to not slip. Just need to get better balance for the upcoming tournaments and, yeah, just be better in general.” The Dane contested the second match of the tournament on Centre Court and admitted that it may not have been an issue if the court had been played on more.
He explained: “It helps for the movement when it's played a little bit, but then when it's played a lot on it gets slippery again. Yeah, then it gets kind of dirt behind the baseline. I feel like it is what it is. You know, we just have to adjust and, you know, didn't do it good enough today. I can blame the court, but that's not going to help. I can only blame myself. Just have to move better, stay more balanced, and then I believe that I'm going to play better.”
Express Sport has reached out to the Queen’s Club for a comment.
