Roland-Garros is perhaps a victim of its popular success. In any case, a new generation of spectators is transforming the arenas into an arena where anything seems permitted…
Heckled by the public on court 14 during his match against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, David Goffin did not fail to gently entertain the crowd after his victory in five sets (4-6, 6-4, 6- 3, 6-7, 6-3) putting his hand to his ear. Which “excited” the crowd even more.
A rather placid boy, the Belgian believes that the limits have been exceeded at the RTBF microphone. “We get some not-so-nice words from the people courtside,” he said. “I could have reacted dozens of times but I decided to stay calm. When you take this for three and a half hours, a little burst of a few seconds, it’s not too bad.”
The 33-year-old from Liège did not want to reveal the content of the insults: “They are not very nice words, but someone spat chewing gum at me when I got up from my chair. It’s a bit like a match of soccer…”
>>> Relive the day of Tuesday May 28 at Roland-Garros Problems already in qualifying
An experienced man, David Goffin noted a negative evolution in the unconditional support given to French players at Roland-Garros. “It’s been hot and disrespectful for a year or two,” he added. “Some players are complaining. There have already been a lot of things, like during Taylor Fritz’s match last year (against Arthur Rinderknech, Editor’s note). Some want to make a mess as they say and it goes beyond the limits. “
Already, during the first round of qualifying, the end of the match between Valentin Vacherot and Gabriel Debru was electric. Angered at having been booed for three hours, the Monegasque shouted his joy at the moment of victory before throwing a ball of rage into the audience. Diego Schwartzman was also bothered by young spectators seated in the front row during his match against Quentin Halys. Alerted by the referee, a security man approached the offending stand, even threatening to exclude them.
We will observe that this unconditional support does not help the Tricolores to win many matches. At the end of the first round, the results are low: 9 out of 28 made it through the first round. That’s a success percentage of 32%…
