Today (May 21st, 2018), we had a super time at the French Open during the first round of the qualifying matches. Here are some tips from our experience.

Download the app! – The app has real time information on the matches.   Specifically it has which matches are live and their scores.  Why is this useful?

  • Only the start time for the first match of the day on each court is known (10 am).  The rest of the matches on any particular court will follow depending on how long the previous matches last.  The app tells you which matches are currently live.
  • Knowing the scores gives you an idea of how long the match may last so you can decide whether or not to stand in line to get into the match.
  • It also has player info and stats which makes the experience more fun.
  • AND, it gives you the line-up for the following day the night before.  That’s useful for planning.

Food and drinks – You don’t need to take food and drinks but you may want to.

  • There is plenty of water to buy – but at 3 or 4 euros a bottle. We never did see a water fountain that we could fill up our water bottles (and I am squeamish about filling up in the bathrooms – that’s just me though).
  • Sandwiches are reasonably priced but we didn’t try them, we brought our own.  Lines were non-existent at 11 and very long from about 12-4.
  • There is some yum ice cream.

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The qualifying matches are fun

  • We saw some very good tennis very close up –  depending on which court they are playing, the players are only a few feet away
  • We may have seen some rising stars (who knows what the future will bring).
  • The first match we saw was top seed Taro Daniel win against Victor Estrella Burgos.

Who knows how far Taro or any of these other winners will make it in the French Open! Congrats to all these winners on their first round wins!

American Dennis Kudla

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American Denis Kudla

Duckhee Lee of South Korea

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Spanish player Carlos Taberner

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Carlos Taberner

Argentinian Facundo Bagnis

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Argentinian tennis player Facundo Bagnis

 

Head out to Roland Garros for the French Open and have a great day!  We purchased tickets online just two days ago (34 euros for total for the two of us including the 4 euro service fee).  There are still plenty of 20 euro tickets for the week of qualifying matches —> as well as regular match play during the next two weeks.

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