A player towel for 50 euros – at Roland Garros it is no longer just about tennis

It is just before 10 a.m. on Monday morning when Kim Clijsters and her son arrive at Hotel Oceania in a van at Porte de Versailles. She greets kindly. The 39-year-old former professional checks in with a mountain of luggage and, as a Eurosport analyst, prepares for two weeks of tennis at Roland Garros. The prestigious tennis tournament where she was in the final twenty years ago against her arch-rival Justine Henin-Hardenne. Clijsters went down without a chance at the time. Those are long gone times. In many ways. Also for Clijsters, who now experiences tennis from the side as a mother.

The Roland Garros tournament has remained almost the same in terms of sport, but has undergone a metamorphosis in business terms in twenty years. Today, the French Open tennis championships are much more than a tournament where the most important prizes can be won on clay courts. The second grand slam of the year has become one super event with approximately 300 million euros in revenue. Of this, 4.6 million euros will go to the winners. Divided equally between men and women. At the time, Clijsters had to make do with 409,500 euros. That was 10,500 euros less than Martin Verkerk received as the losing finalist for the men.

Loss Of The Sand Scallop

The prize money of the men and women has been divided equally since 2007. A total of 49.6 million euros can be distributed this year among the 256 professional tennis players and the losers of the qualifying tournament. For a loser in the first, such as the Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, who suffered so much from his ankle that he went down in four sets against the inexperienced Argentinian Thiago Tirante, an amount of 69,000 euros is available. As a consolation prize for a sportingly meaningless performance afterwards. “I have always played with a bruised ankle in recent weeks, but I still wanted to try at Roland Garros. It did not work. I will stop for the time being until I can move again without pain,” said Van de Zandschulp, who confessed that after his lost final in Munich in which four match points were lost, he “came against something” that left “an egg” on his foot. come. “I’d better not tell you exactly how that works,” said Van de Zandschulp in the press room of Roland Garros.

This year, Van de Zandschulp hardly stayed longer at Roland Garros than the average visitor who visits the tournament for one or two days. The difference is that Van de Zandschulp went home with tens of thousands of euros, while spectators often lose hundreds to thousands of euros watching tennis. And everything that comes with it. There is a lot on the complex on the pricey side, but the tickets, food and drinks and souvenirs are certainly not prohibitively expensive. A portion of French fries costs 7 euros and a cup of coffee costs 3.75 euros. There are queues in front of every eatery or coffee stand. The happy view puts it down with no problem. Others bring their own food and tap water from machines.

The estimated 615,000 spectators who will visit Roland Garros this year will pay 39 euros for a day pass for the side jobs and 450 euros for a place in the men’s final on Sunday. Such as Dick Flink and Henk van Broekhuizen, who share two tickets for the stadium and four day tickets with four others from Zoetermeer. “Not really allowed, but that way we can all see some nice games,” says Van Broekhuizen, who also saw Novak Djokovic play in addition to Van de Zandschulp.

Roland Garros is the ultimate example of an event that international tennis enthusiasts want to attend. Hardly anywhere else can the public see the pros up close. In addition, many who can afford it take the costs for granted. Despite a major expansion on the city side, the complex next to the Bois de Boulogne is still bursting at the seams. It’s full everywhere. For example, the Ukrainian mother Elina Svitolina makes a successful comeback at Roland Garros against the Italian Martina Trevisan in front of a few thousand spectators. Her new coach Raemon Sluiter and husband Gaël Monfils are clapping along the side.

At the same time, Van de Zandschulp is suffering under the eye of his new coach Sven Groeneveld and several dozen Dutch people. The best Dutch tennis player shakes his head on the gravel and fails to impose his will on his opponent. Van de Zandschulp makes no less than 62 unnecessary mistakes during the loss, which itself blames on physical malheur. His opponent Tirante is so surprised that after the last point he does not even realize that the game is over. He smiles and throws his hands in the air.

The Dutch public is dripping off. “Terrible,” says tennis fan Frank Bunnik, who has not received anything from Van de Zandschulp’s foot injury.

La Grand Boutique

In between games, many pay a visit to La Grand Boutique where there is an incessant crowding of people. There is something for everyone. A product is sold every two seconds. A player towel for 50 euros, a cap in gravel color with the Roland Garros logo for 26 euros and the famous Panama hat for 95 euros. It’s time to wait for the 23 cash registers, where the best-selling product of the store is still on display: a linen Roland Garros bag for 10 euros. 35,000 of these were sold last year.

Roland Garros is perhaps the most accessible tournament compared to the other three grand slam tournaments in Melbourne, London and New York. The Australian Open and the US Open are a long way off for the European tennis enthusiast and Wimbledon has traditionally been much more of an event for the elite. “Of course we have lost some money, but Roland Garros is relatively cheaper than golf or Formula 1. The Rotterdam tennis tournament is also much more expensive. You can see three parties in one day here for 39 euros,” says Van Broekhuizen. “It is wonderful to really see the speed of the ball.” His companion Dick Frank nods in agreement: „It was nothing in terms of Dutch tennis. At home, you might turn off the TV. But the ambiance compensated a lot here. If not everything.”