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London - Kristina Mladenovic slammed the condition of Wimbledon's legendary Court 18 on Thursday, saying the grass was dangerously sparse, a hole appeared, and both she and her opponent wanted to quit.
The French 12 seed was playing Alison Riske in a second round encounter on Court 18, the smallest of the five show courts with 782 seats, which the American won 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
The court is famous as it is where John Isner and Nicolas Mahut played the longest-ever match in tennis history -- a contest lasting 11 hours and five minutes over three days of play at Wimbledon 2010.
But Mladenovic said both she and Riske wanted to halt proceedings early on in their encounter.
"It's quite unique with your opponent, after two games, you both agree on stopping playing in a Slam," the 24-year-old said.
"You asking the referee to tell you what's the rule if both players don't want to keep on playing. And the answer is that they just can't do anything, unfortunately, and you have to keep on playing.
"The colour of the court, the fact that there's no more grass, the fact that the baseline where we are running, it's very slippery. There's no grass. I don't know how to describe it. It's not even clay.
"There was a huge hole on the sides where the referee came to actually take pictures of it. So it was not even flat.
"I realised that because at the warm-up I twisted my ankle a little bit.
"You have to run light and be careful, not to push or press too much which is strange to play on.
"I'm just very happy and blessed that I didn't injure myself that much."
World number 46 Riske plays 24-seeded compatriot Coco Vandeweghe on Saturday for a place in the last 16.
Wimbledon results on Thursday, the fourth day of the 2017 championships at the All England Club (x denotes seeding):
Men
2nd rd
Milos Raonic (CAN x6) bt Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) 3-6, 7-6 (9/7), 6-4, 7-5
Alexander Zverev (GER x10) bt Francis Tiafoe (USA) 6-3, 6-4, 6-3
Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x13) bt Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) 6-3, 6-2, 6-1
Dudi Sela (ISR) bt John Isner (USA x23) 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5), 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3
Mischa Zverev (GER x27) bt Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) 6-1, 6-2, 2-6, 3-6, 6-4
Roger Federer (SUI x3) bt Dusan Lajovic (SRB) 7-6 (7/0), 6-3, 6-2
Dominic Thiem (AUT x8) bt Gilles Simon (FRA) 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4
Jared Donaldson (USA) bt Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) 6-4, 7-6 (7/0), 6-7 (0/7), 6-2
David Ferrer (ESP) bt Steve Darcis (BEL) 3-0 -- retired
Tomas Berdych (CZE x11) bt Ryan Harrison (USA) 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (8/10), 6-3
Gael Monfils (FRA x15) bt Kyle Edmund (GBR) 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, 6-4
Adrian Mannarino (FRA) bt Yuichi Sugita (JPN) 6-1, 5-7, 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2
Ernests Gulbis (LAT) bt Juan Martn Del Potro (ARG x29) 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3)
Novak Djokovic (SRB x2) bt Adam Pavlsek (CZE) 6-2, 6-2, 6-1
Women
2nd rd
Angelique Kerber (GER x1) bt Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) 7-5, 7-5
Shelby Rogers (USA) bt Lucie Safarova (CZE x32) 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-3
Sorana Cirstea (ROM) bt Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) -- retired
Garbie Muguruza (ESP x14) bt Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 6-2, 6-4
Agnieszka Radwanska (POL x9) bt Christina McHale (USA) 5-7, 7-6 (9/7), 6-3
Timea Bacsinszky (SUI x19) bt Kristna Kucov (SVK) 6-1, 6-0
Polona Hercog (SLO) bt Varvara Lepchenko (USA) 6-7 (2/7), 6-2, 6-2
Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x7) bt Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 6-0, 7-5
Magdalna Rybrikov (SVK) bt Karolna Plskov (CZE x3) 3-6, 7-5, 6-2
Lesya Tsurenko (UKR) bt Viktorija Golubic (SUI) 6-1, 2-6, 6-3
Petra Martic (CRO) bt Denisa Allertov (CZE) 6-1, 6-4
Zarina Diyas (KAZ) bt Arina Rodionova (AUS) 6-4, 7-6 (7/4)
Alison Riske (USA) bt Kristina Mladenovic (FRA x12) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
Coco Vandeweghe (USA x24) bt Tatjana Malek (GER) 6-4, 6-2
Anett Kontaveit (EST) bt Darya Kasatkina (RUS x29) 6-3, 6-2
