When Kiki Bertens went down after her victory at the French Open on Tuesday, one would have thought that she had just won the final and thus achieved the greatest triumph of her career.
But the Dutch woman “only” won her second round match against Sara Errani. But this game wasn’t like any other. There has probably never been a drama like this in the history of Roland Garros.
The sober numbers at the end: Bertens won after 3:11 hours with 7: 6 (7: 5), 3: 6, 9: 7 against the Italian. There were a total of 24 (!) Breaks in 37 service games. (Schedule and results of the French Open 2020)
Errani insults and apes Bertens
This came about mainly because Errani had massive problems throwing the ball. As a result, she received several penalties for timeout, which is why she almost always had to go over the second serve, which she sometimes performed from below.
The former world number five has had problems with their service for some time and recently chose the variant of the serve from below several times.
It got really dramatic in the third movement. Bertens suffered a thigh injury, had to be kneaded and was barely able to walk.
This led to ten breaks in a row after Errani’s break to 3: 2. In the final stages of the third round, Errani was so annoyed that she mimicked her opponent, who was leaning on her bat and had a pained face.
Huge number of minor mistakes
But after the match point, the argument came to its climax: Errani initially refused to congratulate her opponent and stormed off with an evil Italian swear word (“vaffanculo / F **** you”). At least she could walk herself: Bertens had to leave the seat in a wheelchair, plagued by cramps.
What particularly angered Errani: Before her match point when the score was 6: 5 in the third set, she received a warning for exceeding the time – and then forgave it. A short time later Bertens managed to win the game to 8: 7. Errani turned a 0:40 again, Bertens finally converted her fifth match point.
In total, the 33-year-old made twelve double mistakes, Bertens made eight. Together, they both produced 117 unforced errors – an enormous number.
At the press conference, Errani verbally attacked the Dutch woman again because she did not believe that she was really injured. “She ran like never before. She made me angry. She made great”, the Italian grumbled and added: “I don’t like it when someone ‘plays’ with me. She left the court on a wheelchair and now she eats in the restaurant as if all was well, I just saw her. “
Perhaps the last word has not yet been spoken in this quarrel.
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With sports information service (SID)
