The drawing of lots carried out to sort the spectators authorized to go to Roland-Garros during the fortnight caused a lot of frustration and incomprehension among the losers.
Roland-Garros looks sad. The Porte d’Auteuil tournament, usually set up in the spring, began this Sunday in the gray and the rain, in an atmosphere all the more sad as there will be almost no spectators this year. Roland-Garros will only welcome 1,000 spectators per day on the entire 12 hectare site. The capacity of the tournament increased from 20,000 to 1,000 in just a few weeks.
Faced with the deterioration of the health situation, the public authorities have not really left the choice to the French Tennis Federation which has only its eyes to cry in front of the considerable shortfall that this represents. The disappointment is just as great for the spectators who thought they were going between the drops.
A “completely incomprehensible” decision
“The first decisions were completely legitimate, there is nothing to complain about,” says Louis, who thought to attend the fortnight before losing his places at the end of the drawing of lots carried out to designate the lucky ones. The decision to lower the gauge to 1,000 people came as a shock.
Like several thousand disappointed, this tennis fan does not understand what justifies such a decision, “completely incomprehensible”. “A thousand people at Roland-Garros on a twelve-hectare site, while in the center of Paris, in the metro, people cross paths all the time, it’s physical contact after physical contact … At Roland-Garros, if you follow the sanitary rules well, there is nothing wrong with that. “
“A mixed feeling”
When we interviewed him, Claude had just learned that his ticket was not among the winners. “The first time that I knew that the places were going to be eliminated on the Chatrier and the whole of Roland-Garros, I had a mixed feeling. I was obviously disappointed, and on the other hand, I I understood. Because there are health reasons that are invoked. I think it was normal to lower this gauge. My ticket was canceled on the Chatrier. I was offered instead to take seats on the Lenglen at a preferential rate. A new measure was then passed, reducing the tonnage from 5,000 to 1,000. My seat on the Lenglen was again canceled. It was again a feeling of disappointment that prevailed, to say to me: why me and not someone else? With a lottery that is really very random. ” Party postponed for these Roland-Garros fans.
