THIS FRENCH SLAM IS FAR FROM GRAND

Angry players stressed out in their Paris hotel bubble

TV CAMERAS yesterday captured French Open champion Ash Barty back in her native Queensland, drinking beer in the stands at the Gabba while watching Aussie rules football.

Wish you were here? It did not look like she was missing Roland Garros much, but then quite a few of those she has left to contest the title do not seem to have enjoyed the Paris experience.

A surfeit of men’s and women’s seeds have already lost and there appears to have been an abnormal number of broken rackets, spats and complaints.

Playing a dislocated second Grand Slam within a month amid Covid restrictions and slow, inhospitable conditions has caused an undue amount of angst for players as the tournament heads into its middle weekend. A saving grace is that the number of positive cases among players has been relatively small, but the event faces more headwinds.

Rain is forecast for all next week, and over the next three days the temperatures are not predicted to get above 60 Fahrenheit ( 15 Celsius). French government officials are meeting this weekend to discuss whether the city should be imminently moved to alerte maximale, which would mean the closure of all bars and restaurants.

Amid this distinct possibility and with numbers of Parisian cases increasing, Roland Garros — unlike the US Open — will not be seeing a reduction in the players it is catering for next week.

This is because, in its original ambition to stage as normal a Grand Slam as possible, the French agreed to stageage a full junior event in its second cond week as is customary ary at a major. That t means the arrival of f 64 boys and 64 girls, , plus a few more for r the doubles events. . Already the senior or doubles draw is twice ice the size of that in New York.

Numerous players have drawn unfavourable comparisons with the set-up at the US Open. There they housed them at large hotels out on Long Island and laid on an outdoor cinema and golfing area. In Paris they are penned in city centre hotels with no such distractions. Canadian

Vasek Pospisil, an influential figure who has helped set up the new player association, described it as ‘much worse’.

‘At least for the players, the hotel we’re staying at, it’s tough,’ said Pospisil (left).

‘We don’t have anything. The US Open,O there was a much bigger effort I felt from the organisation to make the time in ththe bubble a little bit mmore comfortable.

‘I think almost evevery player was of the same opinion. ‘YeYeah, it’s not easy to be stustuck in the bubble. You don’t want to be on-site all day because it’s stressful.’

With nine days to go it is likely the ability to best focus on the job in hand will be a determining factor in who stays until the business end.

The rain will help bigger name players most likely to play under the Philippe Chatrier stadium roof.