"I was in pain" - Alize Cornet hits back at fans booeing her for retiring at Roland Garros

Alize Cornet was a fan favourite in the previous days besting several players in superb fashion but an injury forced her to retire in her latest match and she was booed off the court.

Cornet arrived with both thighs heavily strapped for the match against the Chinese teenager Qinwen Zheng who had beaten the 2018 champion Simona Halep in the second round. She swept through the first set 6-0 in 30 minutes and was 3-0 up in the second when Cornet approached her to retire the match. Fans were not happy and quite a few of them booed the native player which left her baffled.

She clapped back after the match:

"I had to abandon the match because I was in pain. But sometimes the French audience surprises me and not always in the right way. Most of the people are no doubt sad for me and understand what's happening but this handful of idiots really makes you feel bad."

She added:

"The boos hurt more than the injury itself. It was just a handful of people in the stadium so maybe they made a lot of noise. But it's really too much when you see everything I've been giving on the court for so many years."

Finally she said:

"It was my decision whether I played today or not. But you know me, I would never have backed out or abandoned a game in a Grand Slam. So it wasn't possible for me to not try to give it my all today."