Controversial French Open match ends with contentious, heated handshake
You could say that drama follows French tennis player Alize Cornet, but you'd technically be wrong because that implies Alize Cornet and drama are two separate entities when they're actually one and the same. They walk together, hand-in-hand, throughout the WTA and into Thursday's second-round match against German Tatjana Maria.
Cornet and Maria split the first two sets, leading to a third set that featured a number of twists, turns and breaks. Early on, Cornet, which is French for "dramatic tears," began cramping. Because this is something she's done before, many were skeptical but it looked like these were legit. She was tightening up like LeBron under pressure. But Cornet can't take a medical timeout for cramping — it's against the rules. Thus, she tried every trick in the book to get the trainer to stay out with her during most of the third-set changeovers, even officially asking for training on one leg while instructing the trainer to work on the other.
At this point, Maria was upset and nearly in tears, asking the chair to give Cornet a time warning, which, to be honest, she deserved. It's one thing to get some salt packets from the trainer. It's another to get a physical in between games. It's also fine to limp around after you've cramped so they don't come back. But walking around like you just stormed Normandy is a bit much. Then, as the set progressed, it seemed that Cornet was doing what everyone had initially expected — milking the cramps. Usually when a player comes down with an attack, they can't move before, during or after points. Cornet's cramps were specialized to hit immediately after a point and not a moment sooner. At 5-4, Cornet won the match on Maria's serve. And then this happened.
Alizé Cornet au bout du suspense bat Maria 6-3 6-7(5) 6-4 #RG16 https://t.co/b67OAmCIUk
— Roland Garros (@rolandgarros) May 26, 2016
That point from Maria is the universal sign for "oh no you didn't."
I gotta say, I'm Team Maria here, all the way. Cornet just won a second-round match and fell to the clay like she'd just won the whole tournament. It's great that you survived leg cramps but get up, shake the hand of the opponent you're clearly showing up, then go back to celebrating. There's a time limit to celebrations that gets progressively longer as a tournament progresses and let's just say Cornet would have deserved two time violations if that were actually true.
In the post-match, on-court interview, Cornet was asked what Maria said to her. (All quotes via @BenRothenberg.)
Ahh, the ol' "I'm rubber, you're glue" defense.
Maria wasn't having it, telling the press.
(Dennis Grombkowski/Getty Images)
No, Maria; it's Alize Cornet.
