When the news broke out that Anna Tatishvili was fined entire French Open first-round prize money (46,000 euros) for her performance not meeting the standards expected of a professional athlete, the Georgian-born American remained silent on social media, but a day later the WTA player voiced her discontent by two retweets, one of them an online petition to reverse the ITF’s decision.
The 29-year-old Tatishvili, who prior to this year’s Roland Garros hadn’t played since October 2017, retweeted a tweet that states:
The fact is that the Grand Slam committee gave clearance to play AND physical examination was performed in Paris prior to match AND match was completed. You did everything required. There should be no question about your commitment to compete. I’m with you 100%!!
Moreover, one person started an online petition, stating the following:
Demand French Open to pay full prize money! NOW
Anna Tatishvili fined all of her first round prize money at 2019 French Open who lost in the first round. No fine for Amir Weintraub who didn’t last 45 min on court in the qualifying and who hasn’t played a tournament since 2017. No fine for Katie Boulter who did NOT even play and they payed her 50% of the prize money. Discrimination! Equal pay for everyone now! Anna was a Top 50 WTA player and went through three surgeries and has been working her heart and soul to recover and get ready for French Open. Grand Slam Committee demanded a letter of health and proof of injury recovery before allowing Anna to play and after arriving in Paris had their own doctors check Anna’s injury and she had clean bill of health and was good to go to compete. Demand prize money now!
The goal of the petition is to reach 10,000 supporters, while so far only 140 people have signed up. Still, I doubt that this petition has any actual power.
What Tatishvili can do is state her case in writing within 10 days after the final day of the French Open, and supply facts and any circumstances as part of her appeal. The referee’s decision that Tatishvili’s performance had not met the required standards during her 55-minute loss to Maria Sakkari can then be affirmed or reversed in whole or in part.
In the meantime, Tatishvili continues her comeback. Yesterday she played a first-round match against Timea Bacsinszky at the 125K Croatia Bol Open and lost 6-2 6-2 in 66 minutes. Let’s hope she’ll get paid this time, her $1,175 for a first-round loss.
