Susan Mullane/USA TODAY Sports
Wimbledon is a lovely sporting event, awash in charm. But it’s played in a village, a healthy commute from central London.
The U.S. Open is a rollicking lollapalooza, awash in sweaty energy. But it’s played far from the beating pulse of New York City, reachable from Manhattan by only bridge or tunnel.
The French Open—or Roland Garros, as the hommes and femmes in branding would prefer you call it—on the other hand, is a city event. The venue is barely a mile from the Arc de Triomphe. In this bike-friendly city, you could leave the tennis venue, pick up a Vélib (Paris’s answer to Citibike) and be at the Eiffel Tower in 15 minutes. If you can’t walk from the action to your Paris hotel, you’re still only a short ride away on the Metro.
There are some drawbacks to staging an urban event. For one, in terms of real estate, Roland Garros is—far and away—the smallest of the majors. The venue is closing in on 100 years old and occasionally shows its age. It also has the tensest relationship with the neighbors, challenged as it is to expand its footprint, much less tap into public funds to do so.
Still, there is undeniable charm to the tournament. (And, befitting a sporting venue named not for an athlete but for a military pilot, there is undeniable quirkiness as well.) The gems and touches come in large and small sizes. There’s a court that doubles as a terrarium. There’s the neighborhood, wedged, as the event is, among parks and gardens and upscale residential apartment buildings. There are small touches, too, like the on-site orange trees or the secret passageways.
Clay-court tennis demands a different skill and mentality from asphalt tennis. And the French Open tends to feature some of the year’s most fierce and demanding battles—if not classically classic matches. But even if you’re watching a blowout, you could do worse than spending a few days in the late spring watching tennis in Paris. Herewith some tips for attending the French Open.
Getting there
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Get tickets, but don’t sweat tickets. This is much closer to the U.S. Open than to Wimbledon. You may have to pay various fees online. You may have to engage with scalpers near the Porte d’Auteuil metro stop. But you should be O.K. to get through the gates.
- Speaking of … taking the Metro—which is clean, safe, punctual and generally outstanding—to Porte d’Auteuil is your best bet. That and/or biking.
- There are lots of streets either closed or snarled with traffic. You’ll pay for trying to get too close. If you Uber or take a cab, get off at Hotel Molitor and walk the 100 yards or so.
- Paris has Uber, but it’s still janky. A lot of two-minute waits turn into 10-minute waits.
- Bring ID, preferably a passport. I’ve heard stories of people picking up tickets and, even armed with the credit card used to make the purchase, having trouble because they cannot identify themselves.
Susan Mullane/USA TODAY Sports
On the grounds
- There is no finer tennis venue than Court Simonne-Mathieu. Full stop.
- As always, the practice schedule is your friend. (And the event is awfully good about posting times and location.) Rafa Nadal, for instance, favors Courts 5 and 17. Fans in the know are there waiting.
- Long live print. Roland Garros is home to one of the few newsstands left on Planet Earth. Patronize it.
- The upper reaches of Court Central double as vistas to see much of the Paris skyline, such as it is, including the Tower of Eiffel.
- The ramasseurs—the ball kids—play a starring role. Most mornings an hour before match play, they charge down the concourse, singing their theme song.
- Same holds for Wimbledon, but Americans are often surprised by how late the sun goes down. It’s June. Paris is deceptively far north. It’s entirely possible day matches will go until 9:30 p.m. Consider that when making dinner plans.
- Feel free to take a dig at the charm-deprived, awkward money grabs that are the night sessions. Initially the women were upset when they thought they were getting shortchanged. Then they saw how these sessions played: the weird ambiance, the way late finishes wrecked players’ rhythms. They rightly said, “Nah, we’re good. Go ahead and load them up with best-of-five matches.”
- Perrier > Vittel > Evian.
- The food on site is … fine. Not embarrassing, not extortionately priced. And the croque monsieur draws rave reviews. But you might want to bring your own sandwiches.
- Tobias writes: The food inside the RG camp is either poor or very expensive—sometimes both. Make sure to take some reasonably priced fresh French baguettes with delicious cheese or ham with you. They are sold at every bakery on your way to the Bois de Boulogne and are the better choice.
- Just stroll the grounds and note the small (and again, quirky) touches. Surely this is the only major sporting event that offers complementary Haribo gummy bears in some of the restrooms. There is an orange tree. There is a back path between the two show courts on which you might cross wild birds. The botanical gardens that abut Court Simonne-Mathieu are lovely.
- (Actually better than lovely. At least in past years, the event has been about reentry. If you need a break or a nap, buy a baguette and spend 45 minutes or so in the botanical gardens before heading back to the tennis.)
- If a French player is in action, stop by. Note the rabid fans … and how quickly they can turn on their players when they start losing.
- Insider tip: A number of players (including Federer in his day) would practice on their off days at the courts across the road in the Bois. Before you enter the stadium, it might be worth poking around.
Nearby
- The Bois de Boulogne is one of Paris’s secrets hiding in plain sight. Detour through it on the way to Roland Garros. Get really ambitious and make a reservation at the Fondation Louis Vuitton.
- To the dismay of drivers, especially cabbies (and to the joy of so many of us), Paris has become an A-plus bike town. Bike lanes everywhere. Paths along the Seine. Vélib, the bike-sharing program, is excellent. You can get a Lime e-bike on your Uber app. There are multiple Vélib docking stations.
- The Metro is terrific. Reliable. Clean. Frequent. The stops are (too) close together. Don’t worry when you see your hotel is a dozen stops from Porte d’Auteuil. It won’t take that long.
- Because you needed another reason to like France … showing a media card or a student ID gets you into most museums and galleries for free.
