By Shrivathsa Sridhar
PARIS, May 29 (Reuters) - Turkey's Zeynep Sonmez tripped over an advertising sign and crashed into a wall while chasing the ball in her doubles match at the French Open on Friday, with the leg injury she sustained bringing her campaign to an early end.
Sonmez, who was partnering German Tatjana Maria in their second round match against Ukrainian duo Anhelina Kalinina and Dayana Yastremska, ran towards the back of Court Six as she chased a high ball at 2-0 down in the opening set.
The 24-year-old looked to have given up her chase as the ball bounced over her head but she tripped on a small sign that served as an advertisement for a sponsor and fell face first towards the wall.
Although Sonmez reacted quickly to avoid a more serious injury to her head and face, she stayed down and clutched her bruised right leg, as her teammate and opponents ran to her.
After returning to her seat at the centre of the court and following a check by the tournament doctor, Sonmez pulled out and the contest came to an abrupt end after 17 minutes.
Sonmez is a popular player on the women's tour and had won the hearts of fans at the Australian Open in January, when she rushed to the aid of a ball girl who fainted in the punishing Melbourne heat during her singles match.
She received the support of four-times Paris champion Iga Swiatek, who called for a reaction from tournament organisers.
"It's hard sometimes to judge," Swiatek said.
"Obviously on claycourts, we need more space sometimes because the balls are flying higher, and you can use the court a bit more with the spin and everything.
"It's a shame, and I hope they're going to put them (signs) in a different place or just put the advertising in a different way there, because it's not safe for sure."
Organisers said they had taken feedback from players into account and were communicating with them on the issue.
"The stadium complex was modernised during the 2018-19 season," said a statement from the organisers.
"All courts currently exceed the international circuit minimum requirements regarding the distance between the baseline and the back of the court, which is set at 6.4 metres.
"However, the tournament's priority remains the well-being of the players taking part. With this in mind, and based on our own observations, adjustments are currently being made to the area around the playing surface."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Paris; Editing by Ken Ferris and Christian Radnedge)
