Mr. Chip & Charge

• French Open Time - One Match at a Time

  2008-05-26 00:10:00
  

  I have previously written about how difficult the French Open makes it for the fans. It’s extremely difficult to get a hold of tickets the normal way (but the many black market dealers outside somehow have 100+ tickets each for any session you can ask for), the tournament area is overcrowded and sometimes you have to wait for hours to get into the court you want to watch, and you are not even allowed to leave the tournament venue and re-use the ticket later the same day (“sortie definitive” is a common phrase at Roland Garros). This all makes it a great hassle for anyone without a credential (I’ve been there both with and without the magic pass) who has decided to make the trip to Paris to enjoy some great clay court tennis.
  
  For those who decide to stay home, things aren’t much better. In the year 2008, most of the ATP events are streamed online making it possible to watch professional tennis all year round, even without having access to the right TV channels. The betting companies have actually been a strong force behind this as the demand to watch tennis has increased among their customers. Several of the major bookmakers are offering live streaming to many of the ATP events, making it possible to watch matches that would never have been televised. Masters Series TV has also been a very popular initiative by the ATP making it possible for subscribers to watch two courts as well as highlights and interviews at all Masters Series events.
  
  The Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open are all being streamed from several courts. As it is today, the one and only major event without this service is Roland Garros. During these two weeks, tennis fans around the world are swung back to the 90’s with one match being broadcasted at a time on Eurosport or any of the other major sport channels. I don’t know the actual reason for this, but can only speculate that it has something to do with the conservatism of the French Tennis Federation, which already got them involved in a court case against betting companies which they lost. When will the French be on par with the rest of the world?

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