My 2024 French Open Experience

The Initial thought
It was about time that I started working slowly towards one of my bucket list items i.e. watching one of my sporting idols, Rafa, play at Roland Garros (my first grand slam live). It must have been the end of 2023 summer when a thought germinated about doing a Europe trip and including the French Open. Of course, easier said than done. Slowly, but surely I started moving towards that goal post. A lot depended on Nadal’s performance and fitness throughout the tennis calendar leading up to Roland Garros. Though the propensity to get injured was highest in Rafa’s career, I felt that it would take a really massive setback for him to miss two French Opens back to back (he already missed the 2023 edition). A major hip injury following an abdominal tear was not looking very promising and many people started the retirement talks.

The Planning
Throughout the tennis season, the Alcaraz’, Sinners and Zverevs were getting hungrier and better. Rafa’s main rival (along with the legend Roger Federer) Djokovic wasn’t going anywhere either after his insane 24 slam feat. All this, clubbed with Nadal’s injury, made me take a pragmatic approach to shoot for Round 1 rather than aim for the skies. The ranking was another concern but I had no doubts that Rafa (of all people), will be allowed as a wild card entrant at Roland Garros (of all places). Roddick’s podcast also helped my cause as he boldly mentioned that Rafa wouldn’t miss the French Open. Aiming for the first round also gave me some flexibility in budget and schedule to work with, considering that I was going to combine this with my UK/Europe visit.

Next challenge was to predict when Nadal would play Round 1, which spanned across 3 days (Day 1 – Sunday, Day 2 – Monday, Day 3 – Tuesday). Not to mention each day had morning and evening sessions ticketed separately. Throw in an ultra-low ranking (outside top 100) into the mix, this was going to be the make or break decision for me. I couldn’t afford last minute tickets after the draw as they will run into a few thousands of Euros (later I got to know that my seat cost 3000 Euros on game day). When I was wondering how to go about this, the techie inside me immediately pointed towards doing some historical data and number crunching. This is what I came up with (though not too sophisticated)

The trend was like this:

• Nadal has not played on Day 1 – Sunday matches (that confirmed my initial assessment that Roland Garros wouldn’t need Nadal on a weekend to draw full houses)
• He played almost equal number of Day 2 – Monday and Day 3 – Tuesday from 2010 to 2022. The last 5 years had more Mondays than Tuesdays
• Played mostly day sessions (again something that Nadal prefers overall on any surface).

I ran my findings by a few close friends (also tennis buffs) including my UK local brother-in-law (wife’s brother) and they agreed (after being surprised) that there is no better way to go about this, considering all the constraints.

The conclusion: Go for Round 1 Day 2 – Monday day session from 12 pm – 8 pm local time.

The travel: Had to be a day round trip from the UK to Paris to save other costs of staying and to avoid messing up my UK/Europe itinerary. My brother-in-law suggested options that I can use (low cost airlines, airport drop etc.). As my itinerary did not have any slack baked in, I knew I had to buy refundable air-fares (heard that UK motorways and security lines at the airports can be unpredictable at times)

Ticketing
French Open tickets were open to the public on March 13 when Indian Wells was underway at Palm Springs, California. Rewind a couple of weeks, an unfit Nadal played a charity match against Alcaraz at Las vegas and in the last minute pulled out of Indian Wells. This threw a big wrench into my planning and I wasn’t sure whether to buy tickets at all. After one of my close friends from LA coaxed me to still go and experience Roland Garros (Rafa statue etc.) if not anything else, I decided to be on standby for the tickets. As luck (good or bad) would have it, the agent bots were all over the Roland Garros ticketing website and within seconds I was in the 100K wait list. My brother-in-law who was helping me out as he was in the local time zone, had no luck either. So I decided to focus on my Indian Wells trip which was on Mar 13. There were some exciting matches lined up such as Alcaraz vs. Zverev, Medvedev vs. Rune and Swiatek. That story itself was something to tell (the bee invasion) but maybe some other day! At Indian Wells, the same LA friend and his dad/uncle gave me an idea of approaching an agent and I started texting with them. When I booked my tickets finally, Nadal pulled out of his favorite clay court lead up tournament at Monte Carlo. My hopes were not too high but still relied on his ever improving practice videos on twitter. Finally, got a ray of hope after Nadal played at Barcelona, Madrid and Rome, albeit with expected poor results.

The draw
Finally the draw was done on May 23 and all tennis fans were in for a shock as Nadal got his first round match against Zverev. Perhaps to complete the unfinished business when the latter got a freak injury while playing semi finals in 2022. For the first time, the uncertainty turned into excitement as I was going to get an excellent match up, possibly with a grand finale of Nadal’s farewell speech. When good things happen, they tend to multiply i.e. I got an unexpected free upgrade in my tickets

Order of play and schedule
By the time the order of play came, I was on my way to the airport to board the flight to the UK from the US. Initially I was shocked to see google publish Nadal Zverev match on Day 1 – Sunday. After looking closely, I breathed a sigh of relief as they were mere placeholders (neither the courts nor the timing was mentioned). I had settled for all 3 possibilities

• Not seeing Nadal at all if he plays and loses on Sunday
• Seeing Nadal on practice courts on Monday if he wins Sunday or plays Tuesday or plays Monday evening session
• Seeing Sasha Rafa match on Monday day session

The order of play was first published for Day 1 and it did not have Nadal, so possibility 1 was ruled out. I had to wait until I landed when the Day 2 order of play was published and I saw what I wanted to and was on cloud nine. The travel weariness disappeared immediately. All the perseverance and predictions paid off and I was all set and excited. After all, one has to put in the hard yards like Nadal himself to watch him play.

The D-Day!
Woke up early at 3:30 am to catch my flight, wore Rafa’s T shirt/cap and did some face painting (RAFA in yellow and red spain flag colors) thanks to my enthusiastic sister-in-law. For that day, I did not bother too much about the looks that I may receive at the UK airport. Furthermore, I did not know that there was a protest going on with slogans on RAFAH (a place in Gaza) people could perceive me as one of the protestors. But honestly, I did not care!

Headed to Birmingham airport well in advance of my flight time thanks to the ample warnings I received about crazy security lines and unforeseen motorway issues. It was a school holiday season and as expected the crowd was bad even as early as 4:30 am. The security line started inside the airport, veered off outside and then again came back in. Had to then take an elevator where the actual security line began. I was happy about the early arrival as it gave me invaluable time to check in. Reached the flight and boarded. All the tension was over!

Touched down in Paris by around 10:30 am (1 hour ahead of the UK) and immediately took an Uber to Roland Garros (decided to skip the advice to use public transport). The law enforcements were plenty as expected at Roland Garros. They even dragged a father and son back to their Uber when they tried to get dropped off at a prohibited area near the gates.

I entered Roland Garros finally! As I got tickets to Phillip Chattrier (PC) court, I was allowed access to the outside courts. Just got to see a glimpse of American youth sensation Ben Shelton playing his match in front of a raucous crowd. As the first match at PC court was not exciting (Ons Jabeur), I made a move out after the first set and explored the place including the famous Rafa statue, Gift shops (that included a massive racquet stringing area), eateries and other fun stuff. For the first time I had traveled alone to a tennis stadium and could spend any amount of time anywhere. Got some fun pictures too along the way

Met Mansour Bahrami as well (Doubles legend and trick shot specialist) who was kind enough to pose for a photo (PS some people saw this pic and thought the forehead painting was for Roger Federer as the R and F became more prominent during the day in the pics)

The experience
The seats were incredible. I was just about 50 m away from Nadal’s camp that was very big this time, anticipating a farewell (including Tony Nadal, Nadal Sr mom and dad, wife, sister, Moya and Jr. Rafa himself). And the guy sitting next to me was visiting from Mumbai, an another Rafanatic and knowledgeable tennis fan. Iga Swiatek (lady version of Rafa from Poland, a clay court beast herself and eventual French Open champion for the 4th time) “polish”ed her opponent in no time. I wanted her to complete her match no later than 3 pm as it would give me atleast 5 – 5 1/2 hours for Rafa – Sasha game before I headed to the airport for my return flight. The moment Iga’s match got over, the sparsely crowded PC stadium transformed into a Gladiator arena in no time. For the first time Nadal was shown on the giant screen doing his legendary pre-match rituals. The crowd (including me) went berserk fairly quickly, and was the first of many moments that this kind of loudness was experienced.

The warm ups were done and both players started very well hitting some really good shots. Zverev looked very threatening right from the start and it was clear that he was not going to put in a poor performance like at Indian Wells against Alcaraz (though the Spaniard beat him in the French Open finals as a poetic justice for what happened in this Rafa-Sasha match, passing the baton perhaps?). I was prepared for the eventuality so nothing disappointed me. I was soaking it all in and living in the moment. The first set went to Sasha as he was able to consolidate the early break. The second set was vintage Nadal as he brought back all the famous shots I have seen in 20 years of fandom. Except for the curling forehand down the line, I witnessed every other shot. Unfortunately he couldn’t capitalize on breaks as the see-saw of high quality games and lackluster follow ups continued. Sasha was in full steam and didn’t hold back despite the minor setbacks. The crowd was rowdy and vociferous at its best. They could sense Nadal’s mood and chanted his name loudly in chorus to motivate him. He also returned the favor by jumping and fist pumping after big points. After seeing the crowd support, I can safely say that

Rafa at the French Open is next to MS Dhoni at Chepauk. The best part is I was able to see instantaneous reactions from his box for key match situations, mainly his wife and sister who have been pillars of support throughout his career. Tony was the same though, he was shaking his head and wanted his nephew to do well. Couple of times, the Nadal camp turned towards the seats I was sitting in and acknowledged the support.

The second set was long and by now I knew through a strange telepathic connection with Rafa that he would end this soon and ensure my early arrival at Charles De Gaulle airport. The match got over (Sasha won in straight sets). The reality sank in when Sasha gave a short, yet respectful and amazing speech and almost gave the entire floor to Rafa. Nadal spoke his heart out and his entire family wept. The crowd was fully behind him as expected, applauding every inch of the way. He did leave the door open for a possible comeback at the French Open next year, so it wasn’t as melancholic. The speech and the event got over by 6:30 pm local time and my flight was at 9:45. All’s well that ends well.

The Thank Yous
This bucket list and dream would not have been possible without the support of my wife who from day 1 has understood my sport (cricket and tennis mainly) fanaticism both in playing and watching. Then to my parents, kids and family who did not even ask a single question and kept on encouraging throughout the journey. Then my close friends (including my AZ tennis circle), especially the LA friend mentioned above (and a huge Roger fan himself) who gave me tips and encouragement.

Vamos, until next time! Maybe Alcaraz or Sinner at a future Wimbledon?

PS: Later when I got to Zurich (Rogerland), I made sure to do a Vamos celebration at a place about 30 minutes from Roger’s residence 🙂