French Open: Cases Zverev and Gojowczyk: Injured rule must be improved

Peter Gojowczyk is already the second player after Mischa Zverev to pay a fine for an allegedly unfit start. But how do you prove this to a player? Difficult… but it would be so easy to avoid such cases. A comment.

Peter Gojowczyk now received a 25,000 Euro fine after his first-round task. He was accused of not being fit even before his performance. According to the ITF, he would have had to pull out and instead of the full first round money of 40,000 euros he was only allowed to take half, i.e. 20,000 euros. The lucky loser who would have taken his place would have got the other half – with the prospect of more.

“Gojo”, two days before his match in the Geneva final, contradicted an allegedly known injury. On Sunday, between Geneva and the start of the tournament, he was also spotted in Paris during practice without any problems.

The Grand Slam rule, which will come into force in 2018, is actually a good thing. Nevertheless, it is and often remains difficult to prove a previous injury to a player. Or: The fact that he is not able to fight his way through a match or win it – after all, we are talking about a special appearance at a Grand Slam tournament, where you might want to give it all up.

But what happens if a player loses his circulation the evening before the game? Or just before the start of the game, during the recording, or only in set one? What to do if my back tweaks – but only gets worse during the match, so that playing on would be a risk for the next few weeks?

Rafael Nadal said it well last year at the Australian Open. When asked if he was painless after his injury, he replied: “I have no injury, if that’s what you mean. Painless… that was years ago” Because every player always has his gadgets.

Gojowczyk is the second player after Mischa Zverev to pay a fine. Zverev had to pay more than 35,000 euros at the Australian Open in January because he allegedly went into his game against Hyeon Chung in a weakened position. The man from Hamburg had to fight with shoulder problems, but gave up in this match because of indisposition.

Which becomes clear: The actually well thought out rule has (still) its pitfalls. An idea to help: Why don’t you pay the player who pulls out the full prize money (as the ATP already does in their tournaments) – and the lucky loser only an expense allowance? Even this, the total prize money (39.2 million euros in Paris!), could be somewhat higher…

It would be a win-win situation for everyone: In addition to the money from the qualifiers, the lucky loser would have the chance of perhaps the biggest match of his career – an appearance in a Grand Slam main field! And also coal-wise in case of a victory the chance for more, like the Argentine Marco Trungelliti, who left Paris with 80,000 euros.

The further advantage: There would then definitely no longer be a reason for a battered actor to run for coal alone, without any real chance. And cases of doubt or possible examples such as Mr Zverev and Mr Gojowczyk would be a thing of the past.