French Open 2024: Frustrated Arthur Rinderknech Has Only Himself to Blame as Self-Inflicted Injury Proves Costly

Arthur Rinderknech, a local boy at Roland Garros, had to withdraw from his second-round match at the ongoing French Open citing a toe injury. He was up against the Argentinean Tomas Etcheverry and was ahead in the match; with the scoreline of 6-3, 7-6(8) in the first two sets, the Frenchman seemed to be cruising to an easy victory before he lost his serve thrice in the third set. He ultimately withdrew, but was it an injury he sustained while playing or a self-inflicted blow caused by frustration?

Losing the third set by 1-6 resulted in dramatic capitulation for Rinderknech as he couldn’t keep his composure. As he went downhill in the fourth set and was on the verge of losing it, The French player decided he couldn’t continue further, as he was struggling to move across the court and appeared to be in unbearable pain. It seemed like a nagging injury and the 28-year-old received treatment on the sideline for a fair bit, but he had to call it quits eventually.

Arthur Rinderknech couldn’t keep his emotions in check

Footage from the game shows Arthur Rinderknech was bitterly unhappy as he failed to hold his serve in the fourth set and hit the billboard with his foot quite hard in frustration. The blow seemed painful as the Frenchman kept limping ever since and couldn’t perform to the best of his abilities for the rest of the match.

Talking to a French publication L’Equipe, Rinderknech admitted that it was his fault that he couldn’t keep his emotions in check after losing his serve in the fourth set. “I shot into the wall, a little annoyance, at 2-0, when I got broken in the fourth and I don’t know, at the moment. I hope I didn’t break my toe. I couldn’t put my foot on the ground anymore,” Rinderknech revealed.

Rinderknech could have been only the second local player to feature in the third round of this year’s French Open, but his inability to channel his aggression positively meant he didn’t just bow out of the singles, he had to withdraw from the doubles as well, where he paired up with Nuno Borges.

Only one local player in the third round of French Open singles after Rinderknech’s injury

With Arthur Rinderknech injured now, Corentin Moutet will be the only Frenchman in the third round of the French Open. The first round had as many as 17 French players featuring and to the utter disappointment of the local fans, not more than one advanced to the third round.

Out of 17 French players, who were part of the singles draw, 12 lost in the first round. Apart from Rinderknech and Moutet, Richard Gasquet, Alexandre Muller, and Gael Monfils were the only ones who made it to the second round with Moutet remaining the only one to feature in the third round.

Moutet raced past Alexander Shevchenko of Kazakhstan with a fairly easy victory by 6-4, 6-2, 0-6, 6-3 in the second round and will now be locking horns with the Austrian Sebastian Ofner in round 3.