Roland Garros 2014

The 113th French Open Tennis Championship, which is fondly referred to as Roland Garros (after a famous French aviator), was held in Paris from 25 May to 8 June 2014 (with qualies started a week before that) and this lucky person just happened to be in town for the second grand slam tournament of the year!

After purchasing ticket from the official website/Viagogo ticket exchange, a process that was a bit more complicated that I had hoped for, I'm all set to spend a Saturday in the sacred terra battuta grounds located at the Auteuil neighborhood. My ticket granted access to all courts, all day.

Every big tennis tournament has a unique atmosphere, and Roland Garros isn't like any other at all. Main Court Philippe Chatrier only holds a little over 14,000 spectators. In comparison, US Open's Arthur Ashe stadium holds 24,000 people and Cincinnati Master's main court holds 11,000 people.



The special event that day was a fun exhibition games to benefit children in Serbia and Slovakia (Novak Djokovic Foundation was a part of it). Most, if not all, Serbian, Slovakian, and Croats players took part, including Goran Ivanisevic (former Wimbledon champion), Jelena Jankovic, Kristina Mladenovic, and the Djoker himself. There was also dance battles, and Jo-Wilfred Tsonga (the French "Muhammad Ali") was cool enough to participate. He kept losing weight so he looked like Muhammad Ali less and less.

I made sure I visited every single courts: Philippe Chatrier (main court), Suzanne Lenglen (second biggest court), Court 1 (a.k.a. the Bullring, because of its shape and the life-and-death matches that were played on it), and the rest of the courts. In tournaments, official matches are played on the largest courts/televised courts. The smaller courts can be reserved by players for practice. Public can access these courts, so if you're lucky you can run into top players practicing on these courts.

Compared to big tennis tournaments in the States, the Roland Garros felt a bit unorganized, although that did not reduce my enjoyment. There were no schedule for special events and some of the staffs were not familiar with their own procedures (such as lunch tickets). Still, it felt very homey and laid-back. I spent quite a bit of time walking around the beautiful grounds which were adorned by the iconic white roses.There were a lot of shop stalls and a lot of ATM machines (because the tourney's primary sponsor was BNP Paribas).

I couldn't stop smiling all afternoon. I finally went home at 7.30pm, when they started closing the venue to get ready for the next day. I wished I could stay long enough in Paris to watch some semi-final/final matches because the tickets were shockingly affordable (I found women's final ticket selling for 99 euro only), but I had to come back to the States because my beloved coworkers were waiting for me. I went home alone by the metro, oozing with a sense of gratitude for being able to be a part of a Grand Slam tournament.

Next on my list: The US Open, Wimbledon, and The Australian Open! :)

Posted in: Europe, France, Paris