Early Notes From Roland Garros 2011

The French Open began Sunday, and this is one of the few tournaments where the tennis fan can find plenty of entertainment by not only watching matches, but simply by being around the grounds and walking through the crowds.

Musée de Roland Garros always has interesting exhibits during the tournament. One that I found particularly fascinating this year is called "Musée imaginaire de Roland Garros" ("Imaginary Museum of Roland Garros") by Bedri Baykam, a well-known contemporary artist from Turkey. Outside courts provide many opportunities for fans to see the action up-close, with the players walking right by them to enter the courts. French are not lagging behind in innovation, either, with interesting and creative ways of advertising during the tournament and stylish presentation of new products.

The two advertisement guys walking around with flat screens on top of their head, attached to two bars around their neck, dressed in white space-suit-like outfits and playing the clown through the crowd to get people to look at them so they can see what is on the screen (as if people would not already notice them) are something to behold. The stand sellers of hats and t-shirts seem to be ready to jump through hoops and yell out loud to fans in order sell the products. The boutique of Roland Garros has the most attractive display of items that I have ever seen at a tennis tournament; so much that high-end stores around the world could use an idea or two from them on how to stack their products in their stores.

On the negative side, having been here four times in the last seven years, I can begin to notice a considerable need to renovate the tournament site. This brings back into question the decision that was taken in three months ago by the 195 delegates to keep the tournament at Roland Garros, its current location. Unfortunately, it is clear that even with the expansion proposed by 2015, Roland Garros is devastatingly insufficient to handle the size of the tournament. Quite frankly, something needs to be done immediately.

First of all, the crowd size is becoming overwhelming and it's a real challenge to find a spot to sit down for a moment to rest, or to walk without having to show some serious footwork in order to dodge the endless crowds walking towards you and around you. I must have bumped into people and said "pardon" several times a day, even during qualifying rounds. Monday was no different and it was only the second day of the tournament, a weekday for that matter.

Then there is the problem of trying to enter a court. One would think that if you choose to watch the outside courts, you should be able to enter the stands without much problem. Wrong! On Monday, Tommy Haas played his first round match against Marsel Ilhan. I arrived at 5-4 in the first set to court 17, which has one of the larger stands of the outside courts. The line was quite long, and the ushers were allowing people in only as much as by the number of those who were leaving. It took me until the end of the second set to finally be able to enter and watch the last two sets from the stands. I had a peephole view of the end of the first set and the whole second set from the line, through a hole in the windscreen, standing with people around me in the line who were trying to share the minuscule hole.

As incredible as that sounds, the situation was no different in the other courts. People stand for many games in lines before being able to enter almost every outside court. If you are wondering, yes, it is possible that there is a game change and the line does not move, simply because nobody leaves the stands on that particular game change. Expansion in 2015 seems very far away when you are standing in that line as a ticket-paying fan. The quickest I was able to enter any court was a first round match between Agnes Szavay and Olga Govortsova; it took me two game changes! I also talked to someone who arrived to Court 2 in the beginning of the fifth set of the match between Stephane Robert and Thomas Berdych — Robert won 9-7 — and although she told me that she waited patiently, she never got to see a point of those 16 games!

Once you do get into a court, the stands will provide plenty of entertainment for those who like to "observe." During Ernest Gulbis' first round match, Gil Reyes, who is Andre Agassi's ex-fitness trainer, and who has lately been working with Gulbis, simply looked funny, if not silly, holding an umbrella throughout the match on top of his head. It was really not hot, and clouds were covering the sun here and there. It made me wonder if it is not too late to protect his skin if that is his intention, or if he did not realize that he was the only one in the whole area to hold an umbrella, sitting in the same rigid position throughout the match. I felt that some of the players' entourages' behaviors during matches were quirky enough (some of them could provide competition for cheerleading contestants) until I saw Gil Reyes.

Speaking of Tommy Haas, I wondered if anyone other than me found his decision to choose Roland Garros to make a comeback ill-advised. He has been hampered with injuries for 14 months, and decides that his first match will be a Slam five-setter on red clay. What happened to "easing in?" I am sure he was reconsidering that decision when he began to run out of gas in the third set and had to call a trainer later in the match to help his ailing body. He did manage to finish the match, losing in four sets to lucky loser Marsel Ilhan.

The latter brought a new perspective to the term "lucky loser," since the player who beat him in the last round of qualifying, Augustin Gennske, drew in-form Stanislas Wawrinka, the 14th seed. Gennske is out of the tournament, losing to Wawrinka on Monday, while Ilhan, in his best French open outing of his young career, is looking forward to playing his second round match on Wednesday against the 30th-seeded player, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

On another note, French Open charges the spectators to enter the qualifying rounds. I can't be sure, but I believe the three other Slams allow you to enter the qualifying round for free (perhaps a reader could confirm or correct me on that). But what I have never seen anywhere else is the fact that French Open will charge you to enter Roland Garros on the Saturday before the main draw, when there are no scheduled matches! Qualifying rounds have ended, the main draw begins Sunday; yet in order to simply watch players practice on the no-competition Saturday, I saw people pay 20 euros to enter the ground. Is it a nice way to maximize profits, or is it "going too far?" I will let my readers decide on that one, and I will head out to Roland Garros for another terrific day of entertainment.