The Roland Garros is definitely one of the most important and fascinating tournaments in tennis. Unfortunately, this year the organization didn’t impress at all after many questionable decisions that made the French Open to be called “the worst slam” by many fans.
What happened
One of the most incredible decisions taken during the fortnight was to kick out Dominic Thiem from the main press conference room to make space to Serena Williams to put both players in an incredibly awkward position as the Austrian was humiliated by the decision and Serena came across (wrongly) as arrogant (see article).
The Roland Garros is the only slam without a roof, and after the rain hit the tournament on Wednesday they scheduled the women’s semifinal on the outside courts and both at 11 am. The attendance was ridiculous, and this decision made many fans to go ballistic. The WTA CEO was furious to write a strong statement criticizing the organization. (article)
That was not enough, as on Friday they postponed the semifinal between Djokovic and Thiem because of the rain even if… there was no rain! (see article)
Employees to fill the empty seat…
Unfortunately, it was also noticed that most of the time there were many empty seats at the stadium and Reuters revealed something incredible: the employees were asked via an email to fill the seats discretely and without mentioning to Social Media.
That was a rather naive move as obviously the email was leaked and reported by Reuters as follows
“Because of the scheduling changes for tomorrow, June 8, the management of the tournament has the pleasure to authorize the employees of the FFT (black and gray badges) and their privies (white badge with black stripe) to access the boxes from 12pm to attend the end of the men’s semi-final and the start of the women’s final.
It is well understood that the following rules must be respected:
– At every changeover, when the guests enter the court, stand up and stay in proximity of the box. Step aside as the clients arrive.
– Stay discreet. Take off your accreditation once in the box. Do not bring food.
– Do not disclose this measure on social media.”
Did they really think that a “mass email” like this would not leak?
All theses seats were showing as sold out but here we are in the 5th set of a Men’s Semi-final with empty seats everywhere. Very disappointing. #RolandGarros #frenchopen pic.twitter.com/VEJR1ULus5
— Gary Newcombe (@newkstar) June 8, 2019
