Roland Garros issue strong response following complaints from Aryna Sabalenka
Aryna Sabalenka was far from happy with Roland Garros organisers following her quarter-final defeat at the hands of Diana Shnaider.
Wind speeds hit 35 miles per hour during the match and the World No. 1 struggled more than Shnaider to deal with the elements in Paris.
Despite the wind, Sabalenka managed to earn the ascendency by taking a 6-3, 4-1 lead, but she eventually crumbled under the Roland Garros pressure.
Shnaider fought back and won 10 games in a row to knock Sabalenka out of the quarter-finals and set up a semi-final meeting with Maja Chwalińska.
After the match, Sabalenka questioned why the roof was not closed at Roland Garros.
“That’s another question – I don’t know why they would keep the roof open when it was crazy windy,” she said. “But how can I complain if for almost the whole match everything was working okay for me, and then it just slipped away?
“I feel like it was getting crazy maybe just because mentally I wasn’t really okay. I remember even from last year they kept the roof open for us, and then the next day, in similar conditions, they closed it for the men – to make better conditions and better quality of tennis, I believe.
“I don’t know why they would keep it open. Even though I was winning, it was very dirty tennis. I don’t know how people could actually sit there and watch. And then at some point she stepped in and played unbelievable.”
Following Sabalenka’s strong complaints, Roland Garros have responded.
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In the Grand Slam’s guidelines, it states: “The roof shall not be closed to prevent any weather threat unless there are strong winds exceeding 60km/h, if play has to be stopped repeatedly or forecast with continued rain.”
However, the issue that came into play during Sabalenka’s match against Diana Schnaider was the power of the winds outside Philippe-Chatrier.
In an official statement, Roland Garros said: “The mechanism to open or close the roofs only works in wind speeds less than 60km/h.In the event that the weather forecast predicts strong gusts of wind or any other type of violent wind along with a strong chance of rain, the referee may order the roof to be closed before the start of a match as a precautionary measure.”
To rub further salt into the wounds for Sabalenka, the roof was closed for three out of the four sets played by Felix Auger-Aliassime and Flavio Cobolli in the following match.
This is the second time wind has been the personal enemy of the World No. 1 at Roland Garros, after she fell in the same conditions to Coco Gauff in the 2025 final.
