The Italian Janik Siner withdrew from the Masters in Paris, ahead of the quarter-final match, which he was supposed to play against the Australian Alex de Minor at around 17 pm today.
The reason is not an injury, but a revolt - the previous evening, the duel with the American Mackenzie MacDonald (6:7, 7:5, 6:1) started after midnight and ended at 2.37 am!
"I don't know if I'll play in the round of XNUMX, I'll see when I wake up," Siner said late last night, or early this morning, after the match with the American.
"Gazeta delo sport" writes that after the match (media, recovery) he finished only around 4 o'clock, and that he arrived at the hotel around 5 o'clock.
Even that wasn't enough, so the organizers scheduled his quarterfinal duel against De Minor for 17:14 p.m. - less than XNUMX hours after he finished the round of XNUMX.
Siner responded - by withdrawing, which is a scandal the likes of which cannot be remembered in top tennis and which certainly hurts the soul of the organizers.
Two nights earlier something similar happened, Dominic Thiem celebrated his victory over Stan Wawrinka while a good part of Paris was fast asleep - around 2.30 past midnight.
The organizers of the last Masters of the season, which is played in the famous "Bersi" hall, decided to schedule six matches a day on the central court, which resulted in a crazy schedule and after-midnight hours.
"Applause for the way you treated one of the best players in the world, who finished his match at 2.37 in the morning and has no more than 14 hours to recover. What is this, a joke?" commented ironically the three-time grand slam finalist Kasper Rud.
"This is crazy. The tournament doesn't care and the ATP just follows what the tournament wants. Always the same story," Wavrinka continued.
Siner's coach Darren Cahill, despite the victory of his team, commented that "the ATP does not take into account the health of the players", and the strongest message - by deed, not words, was sent by Siner - by withdrawing.
The tennis player from the Italian province of South Tyrol will calmly prepare for the final Masters in Turin, which will be played seven days after the end of the tournament in Paris.
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