French Open - 'Dangerous!' - Barbora Krejcikova runs into advertising board, narrowly avoids a nasty injury
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Updated 12/06/2021 at 14:17 GMT
With Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova taking on Barbora Krejcikova in the final of the French Open the crowd on Court Philippe Chatrier knew they would witness the crowning of a new Grand Slam champion on Saturday. The tension was very high, as always for a final, and there was nearly an unfortunate situation as Krejcikova managed to prevent injury running into an advertising board.
'Dangerous!' - Krejcikova runs into advertising board, just avoids nasty injury
There was a scary moment during the women's final at the French Open as Barbora Krejcikova managed to slow herself as she ran into an advertising box.
Neither Pavlyuchenkova nor Krejcikova had experience of playing in a Grand Slam final prior to this tournament and it was always going to be fascinating to see how each would handle the huge occasion at Roland Garros.
What no one wanted to see was either player sustain an unfortunate injury and thankfully this was narrowly avoided as Krejcikova managed to just slow herself in time as she made contact with an advertising board near the net.
The Czech did brilliantly to get to a ball from Pavlyuchenkova which drew her wide of the court, and she expertly softened the impact as she ran into the sponsored box by the side of the net.
"That sign is dangerously in the way!" Eurosport commentator Chris Bradnam said. "We've seen that over the years."
Eurosport expert analyst Jo Durie added: "Yes, she did well to avoid it. She was trying to put the breaks on as she got close!"
Understandably, there were plenty of nerves early on with the pair, and earlier on there was one point which was particularly strange as Pavlyuchenkova left a ball which dropped in from Krejcikova.
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'Wow, strange!' - Pavlyuchenkova 'doesn't even chase' ball against Krejcikova
In an extended and very tense deuce in just the second game of the match, the Russian totally misjudged a very bizarre scooped shot from Krejcikova which, to be fair, had a very unusual trajectory.
It certainly did not look like a conventional lob, but the Czech player somehow managed to retrieve a fine shot from Pavlyuchenkova, which was right in the corner of the court, flick it and get the ball to dip over her opponent's head and land in.
Pavlyuchenkova was not alone in looking totally stunned by the effort - so much so, she did not even turn and run after the ball as it dropped over her head.
Bradnam and Durie, a semi-finalist at Roland Garros in 1983, were left equally baffled by the whole situation.
"It's in! Pavlyuchenkova was so convinced it was going out, she didn't even chase it!" Bradnam said in shock. "Wow!"
Durie added: "That is strange! Krejcikova only just got to the ball as well.
"Well, they will both be relieved they have got a game on the scoreboard, at least."
Pavlyuchenkova, who had broken Krejcikova in the opening game of the match, essentially handed her opponent back the break of serve by not running for the ball, but she must simply have been too surprised to anticipate it.
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'Nice rally to get going' - Pavlyuchenkova wins first point against Krejcikova
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Watch all the action from the 2021 French Open live on Eurosport, eurosport.co.uk and the Eurosport app with world number one Novak Djokovic facing Stefanos Tsitsipas in the men's final and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova taking on Barbora Krejcikova in the women's final.
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