• French Open

Kuznetsova accuses younger players of lack of respect

Svetlana Kuznetsova narrowly avoided a second-round exit at the French Open © Getty Images

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Svetlana Kuznetsova accused the emerging generation of female players of showing a lack of respect after she narrowly avoided exiting the French Open.

Defending champion Kuznetsova had to save four match points before eventually overcoming the threat of 22-year-old German Andrea Petkovic 4-6 7-5 6-4.

Afterwards, the world No. 6 launched an attack on the teenagers breathing down her neck at the top of the rankings.

"All the teenagers come [and] their parents, or their agents - or they - think they're so good," Kuznetsova said. "I don't see them respecting the other players like we did when we came here.

"I was respecting - I played Kim Clijsters. For me, it was huge. I played Justine Henin, and you're like 'Wow! They're big.' You have respect. You want to be like them. [They] come and they see themselves equal and it's not like that, you know."

Another player in irritable mood after a second-round match was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who blasted the tournament organisers for forcing him to play on the first day of the tournament.

The French No. 1, who breezed past Josselin Ouanna in straight sets on Wednesday, feels that the schedulers should have yielded to his request to not play on Sunday. "We are in France. I'm French. I'm French number one. I would have thought it was legitimate for me to be listened to, that I would be given a choice," Tsonga said.

"They should listen to me when I wanted to play or start. I had asked not to play on a Sunday because I had practised in such a way that I thought I wanted to play on a Monday or Tuesday, to be totally fit."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.