Kristina Mladenovic angry after the unbelievable US Open: "I have the impression that we are prisoners"
Kristina Mladenovic has strongly criticized the USTA after her incredible second round out at the US Open.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Sep 02, 2020, 10:08 pm
No, September 2nd, 2020 was not Kristina Mladenovic's day. In the second round match against Varvara Gracheva everything looked like a smooth success for the French. Mladenovic was already leading 6: 1 and 5: 1 and shortly afterwards found three match balls at 5: 2 and 0:40. However, she omitted all of them, a little later the 27-year-old even awarded another match ball.
So it came as it had to come. Gracheva equalized to 5: 5 and finally got the second set in the tiebreak. In the third round Mladenovic hardly offered any resistance and consequently had to admit defeat 6: 1, 6: 7 (2) and 0: 6. But the world rankings 44. shouldn't just hit the headlines with this unbelievable defeat.
In the press conference that followed, Mladenovic didn’t leave the USTA too good: “What they’re letting us go through is horrible. I want my freedom back. I have the impression that we are prisoners.” And further: "I would like to thank the USTA for this incredible experience."
In addition to the sharp criticism of the organizer, Mladenovic naturally also commented on her performance. Although this was good, she felt that she was on the attack. This is mainly due to the fact that after Benoit Paire's positive corona test , Mladenovic was only allowed to leave her room for training units and matches. Nevertheless, the Frenchwoman finally found critical words about her own performance: "I collapsed."