Grand Slam Gaffes: A Twitter Collective

Who wants to play telephone?

Earlier today, the press corp at Roland Garros received notification that Jelena Jankovic, scheduled to play Sesil Karatantcheva on Court 3, would be calling a press conference for 2:30 pm local time. With unscheduled press conferences typically a signal of bad news, speculation about whether or not Jankovic — who was forced to retire last week in Strasbourg and has struggled with injuries this spring — would be withdrawing.

As it turned out, that….wasn’t the case at all.

Oops. As it turned out, the press didn’t have to wait all that long for Jankovic’s press conference after all. The Serb went down to the Kazakh qualifier, 6-3, 6-4, in her opening round match.

If there’s one thing we learned from the palindrome pileup, Grand Slams certainly aren’t perfect — despite being the biggest tournaments in our sport. With the help of the Internet, TTI scoured far and wide to find some of the most amusing Grand Slam flubs of recent years.

US Open 2003: “Your US Open champion….Christine Henin!” (@AnnaK_4ever)

Justine Henin-(Hardenne)’s run to the 2003 US Open title is one that lives in the sport’s history. The Belgian rallied from a 5-3 second set and 5-2 third set deficit to beat sixth-seeded Jennifer Capriati, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(4) in a three-hour affair that ended at midnight. She was treated for dehydration and cramping at a local hospital but returned the following day to upend countrywoman Kim Clijsters in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1.

Too bad nobody told the Chase guy. Christine?

Roland Garros 2012: “You won? No, I won!” (@Nicuss09)

Maria Sharapova might’ve finally completed the career Grand Slam at Roland Garros in 2012, but maybe the public address announcer wanted to give Sara Errani a little love, too — by announcing her as the champion, rather than the runner-up.

The then-No. 21 seed’s impressive run to the championship included wins over Ana Ivanovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Angelique Kerber and Samantha Stosur.

2013 Australian Open: “Where in the World….”

Having left Melbourne with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup in 2012, one would think that the Australian Open’s trophy engraver would’ve been quite familiar with Victoria Azarenka by the time she successfully defended her title in 2013.

Maybe not.

BELarus…. BELgium… #samediff

And speaking of trophies…

US Open 2012/Roland Garros 2014: “Sorri, Novak” (@newballsplease)

Someone famous once said, “It doesn’t matter if you win…

or lose…

….but we’ll probably give the wrong trophy (or name on your trophy).”

Roland Garros 2011: “That’s Not My Name” ♫ (@Renestance)

This one really speaks for itself, honestly.

What’s your favorite Grand Slam oops? Sound off in the comments!