“The Plague Has Spread to France!”: French Open Organizers Slammed for Transforming Court 5 Into Multiple Pickleball Courts

If the French Open organizers are already under the scanner for multiple management failures, they might have dug themselves into a deeper hole with a new development. The Roland Garros’ Court 5 has been converted into multiple pickleball courts in a bid to promote the sport in France as the Olympics 2024 is coming up in 6 weeks’ time too. Already upset over the scheduling and other mistakes at the Grand Slam, tennis fans have no mercy towards the organisers.

A tweet by a fan shows a picture of Court 5 at the Roland Garros, which used to be lusciously red with clay all over it. Now, all the clay from that surface seems to have been scooped up, and all that remains is a bare, barren-looking surface.

Upon the slate-colored floor, there are 3 green tops equidistant to each other. Each of those green squares or rectangles represents a pickleball court. While there was no explanation provided as to why this was done, fans still find this transformation ‘disgraceful’.

A journalist named Tumaini Carayol tweeted the following –

“Disgracefully, the beautiful clay on court five at Roland Garros has been replaced by pickleball courts.”

In no time, tennis fans flocked to the comments section to lambast the French Open for such an unnecessary change. None of them were happy with what they did to Court 5.

Pickleball could get its due at the Olympics 2024 in terms of marketing and France is one of the markets which is being targeted due to the popularity of tennis. But France could take longer to welcome it with open arms as compared to countries like the United States due to prioritizing tradition over innovation.

Has French Open Made a Mistake Despite Pickleball’s Growing Popularity?

Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the States. Its rise in popularity is due to many former tennis-playing legends speaking highly of the sport. Players like Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, John McEnroe, Rafael Nadal, etc, are all fans of pickleball.

Even Amelie Mauresmo, former French tennis player and the current French Open tournament director, might’ve joined the bandwagon with the Court 5 transformation under her wing.

But tennis is a far older sport with a rich history and legacy. Tennis fans worldwide aren’t yet ready to co-exist with pickleball fully. Even when certain fans try to hype up pickleball by comparing it to tennis, they face resistance from others.

Take the example of Nick Kyrgios, who once shut down a person claiming pickleball requires more skill than tennis. While pickleball might be growing, it has a long way to go to make its way into tennis fans’ hearts.

The state of tennis across the globe is fascinating at the moment. Administrators need to keep player burnouts, ball changes in tournaments and match scheduling amongst many issues in mind in order to save the sanctity of the sport and the interests of the players and sponsors.

This could be a golden opportunity for pickleball to make its mark. However, converting iconic tennis courts might not be the way to go as at the end of the day, it is the fans who will make or break the sport.