French Open doubles match ends after sign causes injury

A French Open women's doubles match ended Friday when a player tripped over an advertising sign near the baseline and crashed into a wall.

Turkey's Zeynep Sonmez, 24, sustained a leg injury on the incident at Court Six at Roland Garros in Paris.

Sonmez was chasing down a lob in the first set when she collided with a sign near the court boundary and lost her balance before falling headlong into the wall. She visibly was shaken and appeared to be in considerable pain as the medical staff responded immediately.

With Sonmez unable to continue, the second-round match ended after just 17 minutes with Sonmez and Germany's Tatjana Maria trailing 2-0 against Ukrainians Dayana Yastremska and Anhelina Kalinina.

Sonmez posted about her situation on X, noting that it was not an isolated occurrence.

"5 incidents in 5 days. I left the court with 2 stitches and a bruised knee. Thankfully, it wasn't worse," Sonmez wrote. "Do we really have to wait until a player is seriously injured before these courtside boards are removed? Player safety must come first."

Sonmez lost her first-round singles match earlier this week 6-4, 6-4 against Australia's Daria Kasatkina.

Sonmez is ranked No. 66 in the world and owns one singles title on the WTA Tour, prevailing at Mexico's Merida Open in October 2024.

--Field Level Media

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This story was originally published May 29, 2026 at 8:28 AM.