French Open 2017, Day 3 highlights: Love-all for Alize Cornet, Nick Kyrgios' 'dislike' of clay and more

Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Simona Halep won on Day 3 while Alexander Zverev and Johanna Konta were the seeds who fell. Here’s a look at some of the off-court stories from Day 3 at the French Open.

Love-all

France’s Alize Cornet got into a bit of a tangle when discussing her love life and if she plays tennis with her current beau. After her win over Timea Babos in the first round, Cornet was asked if she plays tennis with her boyfriend Michael Kuzaj, who played collegiate tennis in America at the University of Southern Indiana. “I do like to play tennis with him, because he’s a good sport. I have had several boyfriends – I take that back. I have had one boyfriend, sorry, one boyfriend who was a tennis player, and it was not fun to play with him, because we had a very different approach.”

Kyrgios claycourt car trouble

Nick Kyrgios cruised to a 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 win over Philipp Kohlschreiber in his first round on Tuesday. After the match, Kyrgios was asked what he likes best and worst about playing on clay.

“I don’t really like running. That’s one thing,” Kyrgios said. “So when the rally gets pretty long I tend to just go for a low-percentage shot.”

Kyrgios also added that doesn’t like the fact that his shoes get dirty.

“When I’m back home I don’t really train that much on clay because it makes my cars dirty,” he explained.

Been a long time

Croatia’s Petra Martic, playing her first tour-level event in a year, defeated Kateryna Bondarenko for a first win at Roland Garros in five years. Juan Martin del Potro made a winning return on his first appearance at Roland Garros in five years on Tuesday. The 29th seed prevailed over fellow Argentine Guido Pella 6-2, 6-1, 6-4. Young Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis was playing in his first Grand Slam match since the 2015 US Open, but suffered a defeat at the hands of 8th seed Kei Nishikori, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.

Won’t shake on it

After losing to Martin Klizan of Slovakia 7-6(4), 6-3, 4-6, 0-6, 6-4 in the first round at Roland Garros, wildcard entry Laurent Lokoli of France skipped the usual sign of sportsmanship. Instead, he went to the sideline to pack up his things.

When Klizan approached, right arm extended, Lokoli dismissively waved him off with the back of a hand, motioning to stay away. Afterward, Lokoli said he wasn’t being a sore loser but rather that he didn’t want to shake because he thought Klizan was faking an injury during the match and was generally “disrespectful.”

The "handshake" is the perfect summary of Klizan vs Lokoli pic.twitter.com/a4F1KIHeSv

— Stefano Berlincioni (@Carretero77) May 30, 2017

“I just have (a) problem with his attitude,” Lokoli said, “because he wasn’t fair. That’s it.”

Quotes of the day:

“I played absolute sh*t – but it’s not the end of the world.”

-- Alexander Zverev on his first round loss to Fernando Verdasco.

“If it hadn’t been live on air, I would have punched him.”

-- Eurosport reporter Maly Thomas on French player Maxime Hamou’s attempt to kiss her against her will on live TV. Hamou has since had his credentials cancelled.

“My arse is definitely going to be sore for the first couple of days.”

-- Johanna Konta on looking ahead the physical demands of bending low on grass courts after losing to Hsieh Su-Wei.

“They are quite simple. It’s carpe diem, but they all mean something different to me. It’s not the real thing. I mean, normally it means seize the day. But it has a special meaning for me. And this one is om sign, it’s a Hindi sign. But also very personal.”

-- Elina Svitolina on her colourful tattoos

Stats of the day

0 – number of matches won by Johanna Konta in three visits to the French Open.

20/40 – aces and winners hit by Nick Kyrgios in his straight sets win over Philipp Kohlschreiber

With inputs from AFP and AP