A thrashing on the tennis court is hard to take if you’re Russia’s No. 1, but Mikhail Youzhny felt his standard of tennis was so painful to watch that he apologized to the crowd in a very unusual way Saturday.
Youzhny, the 27th seed, scraped “Sorri” into the Roland Garros clay with his foot after finally winning a game against sixth seed David Ferrer, who had taken the first eight straight in their third-round tie.
Perhaps fortunately, the French Open crowd was spared a repeat of a gory episode in 2008, when a frustrating series of points led Youzhny to beat himself over the head with his racket until he started to bleed.
Then, the pain spurred Youzhny on to defeat Nicolas Almagro, but the scrawl in the sand was more a warning that it wasn't going to get any better, as Ferrer went on to win 6-0, 6-2, 6-2.
“There was a lot of people. That’s why I write ‘sorry.’ Because I can’t show them a nice game,” Youzhny said.
“The way we played in the beginning, it was not really interesting for people.”
Ferrer said he was surprised how easy it had been to beat Youzhny, a 2010 Kremlin Cup winner.
“The match turned out to be easier for me than I had expected,” Ferrer said.
“I was in the game from the very start. When difficulties arose, I dealt with them quickly. I dictated the game.”
In the last 16, Ferrer will play either fellow Spaniard and 20th seed Marcel Granollers or qualifier Paul-Henri Mathieu.
