The 2026 French Open has provided great tennis over the first week. However, there has been an interesting storyline that has taken over the tennis news on the court.
The location of some of the French Open advertising has been very controversial to say the least. A year ago, Jim Courier of TNT addressed the issue when he saw Italy’s Matteo Gigante trip over the Lacoste advertising located at the back of the tennis court behind the baseline. He stated he was willing to “say Lacoste 10 times” if that was required to have the structures with their logo and name brand removed.
In the first week of the 2026 French Open, the controversy of the Lacoste advertising continued. According to ESPN, Katie Boulter of Great Britain (also known throughout Australia as Alex de Minaur’s fiancee) tripped over the Lacoste sign on Thursday in a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 second round loss to Austria’s Anastasia Potapova. Then on Friday, Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey withdrew from her second round French Open women’s doubles match when she tripped over the sign and injured her leg. At the time of the match, Sonmez and Tatjana Maria of Germany were losing 2-0 to the Ukrainian duo of Dayana Yastremska and Anhelina Kalinina.
As a result of what happened to Boulter and Sonmez, changes were finally made on Saturday. The Lacoste advertising has been moved to the top of the tarps rather than on the court. However, the fact that the tarps are located on the back of the court has still generated controversy. That is because Belgium’s Alexander Blockx withdrew from the French Open when he sprained his ankle while tripping over a tarp during a practice session. According to Charlie Eccleshare of the Athletic, Blockx’s coach Ruben Bemelmans has stated that Blockx is considering financial compensation due to the withdrawal. Ironically, Blockx was to play de Minaur.
