Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka might’ve just delivered the best match of the 2024 WTA season. Going up against each other merely in the second round of the ongoing French Open 2024, the two multiple-time Grand Slam winners entertained the entire tennis world. While all of social media is praising both players for the action-packed contests, certain enthusiasts couldn’t help but wonder why the Court Philippe-Chatrier had numerous empty seats.
The Iga Swiatek-Naomi Osaka contest went on for nearly 3 hours and eventually finished in the favor of the Polish superstar. The World No.1 saved a match point and won 5 games in a row during the final set.
Ultimately, she emerged victorious 7-6, 1-6, 7-5. Fans did acknowledge the two for a spectacular showing. However, the French Open organizers received the same amount of scrutiny after a majority of the seats were vacant.
Users claimed that they were denied from purchasing tickets online due to the seats being all sold out. Hence, seeing many empty seats in the arena made fans furious.
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What’s happening at the French Open 2024? pic.twitter.com/WqPm2iHNty
— Wide World of Tennis (@tennisfan_dkr) May 30, 2024
At a certain level, such a high-intensity match between two high-profile athletes being played in a stadium only half-occupied, was disrespectful. However, Roland Garros has been infamous for such incidents, regarding gate receipts and ticketing operations.
The French Open Has Had Ticket Problems Earlier as Well
In 2020, the French Open was to receive $88,900 from Viagogo regarding a ticketing dispute that occurred in 2018.
While this wasn’t exactly the organizers’ fault, the blame for the controversy in 2023 can be pinned on them. The tournament director revealed that the Grand Slam surpassed the total number of visitors from the previous year.
However, the majority of the matches had the stadiums only half full – indicating that people were present at the Stade Roland Garros but not in their seats.
Ons Jabeur was merely one of the many players to voice her frustrations.
“It was really good to see the Tunisians in the crowd because I know there were no tickets, and it was terrible to see the stadium empty because there were a lot of Tunisians who wanted to come and see me play,” Ons said, per Reuters.
The French Open organizers have already banned alcohol for spectators in the stadiums for their unruly behavior during the first two days. From what it seems like, the organizers are trying their best to make the event a pleasant experience for fans and players this year. Hopefully, the tournament will also be able to fix the “vacant seats” issue at the earliest.
