'We were expecting to be sunbathing': Drenched fans find big names on tiny courts in Paris (2024)

It’s soon after midday at Roland Garros, and the covers are back on.

An umbrella pops up next to me, and the woman operating it lets out a long sigh.

“We’ve been coming here for 40 years, and it’s never been as bad as this,” says Gilly, 70, from London, who is in Paris with her friend Beverly, 62. ”We were expecting to be sunbathing, and instead we’ve had this.”

The scene at Roland Garros (Charlie Eccleshare/The Athletic)

The pair have had tickets for the past four days of the French Open, all of which have been heavily disrupted by rain. The previous day was a near-total washout.

“They’ve expanded the site, but it’s still really bad for the plebs,” Gilly says — referring to those who don’t have tickets for the two main courts, Philippe-Chatrier and Suzanne-Lenglen, both of which have roofs. “There are so few areas to be inside.”

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Gilly and Beverly have largely found shelter in the Bar des Mousquetaires, which specialises in brioche and ham sandwiches.

The rain has been one of the dominant themes of this year’s tournament, and on Thursday the backlog of matches meant a packed schedule on the outside courts, leaving some big names playing in some very small arenas. At Roland Garros, the barriers in between and the close proximity can feel more public park than Grand Slam.

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On tiny Court 11 (capacity: 376), proceedings kicked off with a battle of two Grand Slam semi-finalists, Frances Tiafoe and Denis Shapovalov. “A few hundred people getting a popcorn match here,” as one observer put it. Fans crammed into stairwells and peered up for any possible view of a heavyweight encounter between two players searching for their best form.

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The banquet of matches on the outside courts (when the rain stayed away) meant that for most spectators, morale remained higher than it appeared for Gilly and Beverly. Pascal, a 40-year-old local, was another unimpressed with the weather.

“Like every day since October,” he says.

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Others found different ways to keep amused through the rain.

“On Wednesday, I just grabbed a beer. Everyone was hanging out. I was quite upbeat,” says Chloe, a 20-something from Miami, Florida, who flew over especially for the tournament, only to see both days she was here ravaged. “I just put my baseball cap on and I’m OK. That kept me dry.”

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Ann and 26-year-old daughter Eliza are over from the U.S. too — Chicago in their case — and also had ground passes for Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday, they cut their losses and went into the city to do some shopping. “We stayed here for a couple of hours yesterday but gave up,” Ann said. “And it was a good decision — check out my new handbag.”

They even got some tennis in: the sun came out around 6pm, and they got to watch America’s world No 14 Tommy Paul annihilate former top-10 player Fabio Fognini on Court Eight — another plum match crammed into a tiny venue.

Opposite, Ben Shelton, the American world No 15, was in action on Court Seven, and he too had generated a big crowd of people trying to squeeze in to see his match against 2014 U.S. Open finalist and one-time world No 4 Kei Nishikori.

The queue to watch Shelton take on Nishikori (Charlie Eccleshare/The Athletic)

Amongst those in the line were Don and Evelyn, a couple of 58-year-olds from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who had built a trip to Paris around this one day at the tennis. “Look, we’re at Roland Garros, it can’t be that bad,” Don said. “When it rained we ate lunch on a wet table, milled around, went into the shop. We’ve seen about eight different matches and players like Paula Badosa (the former world No 2 on Court Eight, beating Yulia Putintseva), Grigor Dimitrov (the three-time Grand Slam semi-finalist on Court 14) and Felix (Auger-Aliassime).”

Speaking of Auger-Aliassime, he found the whole experience a little strange.

Court Nine has a little bank behind one of the baselines and a couple of small stands, holding a few hundred people in total, and, as mentioned, is right next to Court Seven. Both were packed and very noisy, especially Court Seven because of the home support for Pacquet.

“I’ve never played on that court and it’s a bit different,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I could hear what was going on on Lenglen (the second-biggest court at Roland Garros), and I could hear the next court, where Pacquet was playing. So yeah, a lot of distractions — plus the rain. Look, it wasn’t easy, but it is what it is for both players and you just have to focus as best as you can.

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“The atmosphere was weird. You feel like you can hear what’s going on on the other courts. From the third round, hopefully, I’ll be on bigger courts; so, hopefully, that’s behind me.”

Hopefully that’s behind me.

A sentiment shared by many spectators and players about the last few days in Paris.

(Top photo: Mateo Villalba/Getty Images)

Charlie Eccleshare is a tennis journalist for The Athletic, having previously covered soccer as the Tottenham Hotspur correspondent for five years. He joined in 2019 after five years writing about football and tennis at The Telegraph. Follow Charlie on Twitter @cdeccleshare