adminFed up at being variously described as “furious” and “angry” after Monday’s loss to home hope Gasquet, Stakhovsky explained he whipped out his mobile phone purely to entertain the crowd — even if he accepted he himself crossed the line, in contrast to the ball, in so doing.
After his straight sets loss to seventh seed Gasquet, Stakhovsky complained: “I believe it was a bad call, it was a bad judgment. After all, we are playing on clay, where you should be clearly able to read the mark, and unfortunately, not all of our referees are able to do so.”
Yesterday, the 101st-ranked Ukrainian said he would pay a fine which tournament organisers are now set to levy at the end of the fortnight and recognised he had overstepped the mark, while denying he was angry at chair umpire Carlos Ramos.
“I was not angry — I wasn’t even frustrated. The manner of the way I did it wasn’t insulting,” said the 27-year-old from Kiev, who woke up to headlines in the French papers such as Voix Du Nord daily’s “Stakhovsky invents officiating by photo at Roland Garros.”
Britain’s Daily Mail described him as ‘furious’ while one visitor to the paper’s comments section observed “you cannot be serious” — an echo harking back to the combustuous early days of John McEnroe’s career.
But Stakhovsky insisted he had only intended the affair to be light-hearted and not a sign of disrespect to Ramos or other officials.
“Something just itched in my butt – it was a spontaneous thing to do,” he told AFP.
“But it was wrong. The rule book says you can’t do it. Some media have made a big thing of it. But that’s pathetic — I was quite calm, I had a nice chat with the umpire. It was more a joke than anything and I hope people won’t judge me that badly. It was near the beginning of the match.”
Men
2nd rd
David Ferrer (ESP x4) bt Albert Montanes (ESP) 6-2, 6-1, 6-3
Marin Cilic (CRO x10) bt Nick Kyrgios (AUS) 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
Feliciano Lopez (ESP) bt Joao Sousa (POR) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA x6) bt Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, 6-3
Viktor Troicki (SRB) bt Daniel Gimeno (ESP) 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-0, 6-7 (7/9), 6-4
Kevin Anderson (RSA x23) bt Evgeny Donskoy (RUS) 6-7 (8/10), 6-1, 7-5, 6-2
Jeremy Chardy (FRA x25) bt Roberto Bautista (ESP) 6-1, 7-5, 6-4
Andreas Seppi (ITA/N.20) bat Blaz Kavcic (SLO) 6-0, 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (2/7), 4-6, 6-3
Nicolas Almagro (ESP x11) bt Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) 6-2, 6-4, 6-3
Milos Raonic (CAN x14) bt Michael Llodra (FRA) 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2
Gilles Simon (FRA x15) bt Pablo Cuevas (URU) 6-7 (2/7), 6-1, 6-1, 6-1
1st rd
Benoît Paire (FRA x24) bt Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) 3-6, 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, 6-4
Janko Tipsarevic (SRB x8) bt Nicolas Mahut (FRA) 6-2, 7-6 (7/4), 6-1
Lukasz Kubot (POL) bt Maxime Teixeira (FRA) 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (9/7), 6-2
Horacio Zeballos (ARG) bt Vasek Pospisil (CAN) 7-6 (11/9), 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 2-6, 8-6
Women
2nd rd
Varvara Lepchenko (USA x29) bt Elina Svitolina (UKR) 7-6 (7/5), 6-1
Agnieszka Radwanska (POL x4) bt Mallory Burdette (USA) 6-3, 6-2
Angelique Kerber (GER x8) bt Jana Cepelová (SVK) 6-2, 6-2
Dinah Pfizenmaier (GER) bt Urszula Radwanska (POL) 6-3, 6-3
1st rd
Kaia Kanepi (EST) bt Klara Zakopalova (CZE x23) 7-6 (7/3), 6-2
Stefanie Voegele (SUI) bt Heather Watson (GBR) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
Ashleigh Barty (AUS) bt Lucie Hradecka (CZE) 7-5, 2-6, 6-1
Maria Kirilenko (RUS x12) bt Nina Bratchikova (RUS) 6-0, 6-1
Annika Beck (GER) bt Sandra Zahlavova (CZE) 6-2, 6-1
Victoria Azarenka (BLR x3) bt Elena Vesnina (RUS) 6-1, 6-4
Petra Kvitova (CZE x7) bt Aravane Rezai (FRA) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
Peng Shuai(CHN) bt Camila Giorgi (ITA) 6-4, 6-2
Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (SVK) bt Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 6-2
Jamie Hampton (USA) bt Lucie Safarova (CZE x25) 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 9-7. — AFP.
Online Reporter