WIMBLEDON, England — Anna Tatishvili’s tennis comeback looked merciless even before she took the court last month. After losing 19 months of her career to a persistent ankle injury, she returned at the French Open and learned that she had drawn an opponent nobody wanted to face in the first round: the No. 29 seed, Maria Sakkari, who led the women’s tour with 12 clay-court wins heading into the tournament.

It was no surprise then that Tatishvili lost badly, 6-0, 6-1. The shock came the next day when she went to collect her check for appearing in the first round.

She was directed to the head referee’s office, she said, and informed that her payment of 46,000 euros, or about $51,500, was being withheld because of her poor performance.

“They didn’t even say hi to me; they said, ‘Your account is frozen,’” said Tatishvili, a 29-year-old American. “They talked to me like I’m some kind of criminal or something. It was so disrespectful. I even cried.”