EXPLAINED: Proposed Solution to Avoid Falling at Wimbledon Championships 2021

One of the talking points at this year’s Wimbledon Championships is the number of player falls on all the court. Starting with Djokovic, every player would have slipped on the court one time or the other. Amongst the people who considered the grass to be risky was Patrick Mouratoglou, coach of Serena Williams.

On a day when the Center Court crowd witnessed a nasty fall from the Frenchman Adrian Mannarino during his first-round match against Roger Federer, 23-time grand slam champion also met with the same fate moments later when she fell on-court and suffered a foot injury.

Even though the American called on the trainer and had treatment, she couldn’t continue and eventually retired from the match. Two shock retirements in a single day erupted a lot of tennis fans to question the organizers at Wimbledon regarding the grass.

Talking about the same, coach Patrick Mouratoglou raised a valid point with respect to the shoes allowed for players by Wimbledon.

“The real concern is less the court and more the shoes. Let me describe you a tennis shoe made for grass. It’s full of pimples. Without those, playing tennis would be like ice skating and straddling when you want to run”, explained the French coach.

Mouratoglou continued, “You have to know that most of the falls on grass are due to a side support. When the players change direction, their reflex is to push the inside of the foot. That was clearly the motion in falls of Mannarino and Djokovic”.

It was a valid point raised by Patrick as a lot of player falls happened during the direction change. However, the coach of Serena Williams was quick to point out the injury faced by her was a different one.

“If you don’t have pimples there, the foot is giving way and here comes the split. That’s a reflex you can’t help it. I really think a serious discussion must start on this topic with reconsideration for the player’s health. Serena’s slip was on the bottom of her foot, let’s be clear”, concluded the Frenchman.

Despite the unfortunate retirement of Serena, there weren’t any severe injuries faced by players on-court after slipping. But, few players like Nick Kyrgios and Michael Ymer got lucky as they escaped without any serious injuries after falling during their respective matches.