Top
Roger Federer night match French Open 2021
Roger Federer, Roland Garros, Tennis News

‘More atmosphere on the moon!’ – Federer match timing frustrates fans


Roger Federer played his third round match from 9pm until almost 1am local time in Paris, and many fans globally were not happy about it. 

The Swiss maestro became the latest star to take part in a night match at the French Open, a new initiative this year.

The match saw Federer and Dominik Koepfer play past midnight in a completely empty Court Philippe Chatrier, and many fans were thoroughly disappointed with the situation.

Many watchers responded angrily to tweets from Roland Garros during the match, including describing it as an “awful experience all together.”

The decision to hold night matches at the French Open is no doubt to do with broadcast deals and attempting to reach a wider TV audience, but many fans were left confused when they couldn’t even access the match.

Even ATP player Noah Rubin chimed in with his view on the matter, pointing out the apparent disconnect between trying to promote tennis more widely while making it exclusive to certain streaming platforms.

 

Another Twitter user laid out the necessary subscriptions to watch tennis year round, coming to an astounding cost.

On the subject of the match atmosphere itself, Philipe Chatrier had an almost eerie feeling so late at night with no crowd.

At the US Open and Australian Open can be enthralling affairs with ecstatic crowds well into the early morning hours, but there was no such aura on Philippe Chatrier,


By
0