[I wanted to take a proper moment before I sit to write this, get some clarity first. This post is mainly a condemnation post towards FTF and the tournament officials of Roland Garros. It will be long, but i promise it will be worth it. If any of you want to cross check anything that I have spoken here, you are very much obliged to do so. They are factually correct.]
As I was watching yesterday's match, I felt in such a state of helplessness that I can't explain to people who don't watch sports. I was still crossing my fingers, praying to God when jannik was 5-1 in the 5th set... hoping, desperately praying for some miracle.
Sports is sometimes about hope you know. Hope that you'll win, hope that you will come back from your fall, hope that everything will go well on your part. Hope is that thing which keeps a human moving, or is it determination? Who knows, maybe a mix of both kept my dear friend Jannik stand up and play deuces under the scorching heat and fatigue from his own body.
To the people, who're complaining about his physicality and spewing irrational biological nonsense.. let me teach you a cent or two about biology. As a person who suffers under intense heat often, it doesn't really have a "solution". Sometimes the body just gives up, we can't do anything. If we try to push it more, it would cause damage to ourselves. That's why I was more worried about his health yesterday, rather than winning the match.
To be honest, this heat stroke and cramps hasn't only been faced by Jannik in RG this year. This has been experienced by many players— Jacub Mensik, Gabriel Diallo, Casper Ruud, Terence Atmane. Rublev and Buse had required the tournament trainer on seperate occasions to monitor vitals with a stethoscope and add heavy doses of salts and minerals to their bottles.
WTA players have been severely impacted as well, with prominent stars either the crashing out, altering press schedules or speaking out against the brutal physical toll of this heatwave. Both Zheng Qinwen and Daria Kasatkina had spoken out about this physical discomfort of playing under such afternoon heat.
Then you would probably ask why wasn't the roof closed, given the number of complaints that has been surrounding the tournament, right?
The retractable roof on Court Philippe Chatrier was not closed because the French Open's extreme weather policy strictly uses the roof for rain, not for heat; unlike the Australian Open.
Tbh closing the roof at Roland Garros does not solve a heat problem the way it does in Melbourne. The French Open stadiums are not fully sealed, air tight arenas, meaning they lack a powerful central air-conditioning system the cool down the interior. If officials close the roof on a hot today, it can trap the rising hot air, stop what little natural breeze exists and create a stagnant humid greenhouse effect that exacerbates the heat issue for players. Basically a health hazard for the players.
A major point of contention among organisation and place is tournament equity. If Court Philippe-Chatrier is closed and shielded, the players on the outer uncovered courts are still forced to bake in the direct sun, creating vastly unequal playing conditions across the same round.
That basically means that the fault lies in the tournament and it's officials right? Bingo.
Roland garros is projected to generate well over 400 million euros this year. While the tournaments overall revenue jumped by 14% last year, player price money only grew by a meager 5.4%. Players claim they share actually drop from 15.5% to 14.3%.
The question comes: WTF ARE THE FTF DOING WITH REST OF THE MONEY?! The players are not paid enough, they can't make proper infrastructure and stadium renovations then where does rest of the money go?! To executives' pockets?? The world is changing so is the climate, hence the federation can't stick to their old rusted rules and expect everyone to follow them blindly.
One more concern that critics are missing from this topic is that other than players who are directly playing the sport, several other people contribute to this sport and event who are equally suffering because of the mismanagement.
While the chair umpire has an umbrella for basic shade, thousands of fans and the ground staff are left entirely unprotected. Spectators paying premium prices for tickets are forced to bake in uncovered stands for up to 5 hours during unreasonable hot 33°C (91°F) peak days. With no shade, heat exhaustion cases among court workers and ball kids create major medical strain during these tournaments as well.
The tournaments defence that "closing the roof wood created unfair advantage for court centre players" completely falls apart when we look at the economics of Grand Slams. Instead of hoarding hundreds of millions of euros or allocating it away from the players, a portion of these staggering profit should be reinvested into modernising player and fan environment across all secondary match courts. Even on the two biggest stadiums that feature retractable roof (Court Philippe-Chatrier and Suzane-Lenglen), the tournament did not install the heavy-duty climate control systems easily found in Melbourne or New York. Closing the roof on a hot day without ventilation simply creates a humid greenhouse effect.
Other than this massive heatwave issue, another thing that the players have spoken about is the tour calendar. How stacked up it is, how tightly schedules everything is. Overall I have only one thing to say to these bald heads:
Many a decisions can he taken while sitting in an air conditioned room at big tall offices, try playing on the court one day. Hopefully then you can understand what the players experience, how they die everyday on court.
Now over to mi dulce nino, look... I am not gonna sit here and complain and whine like a crybaby talking about if, if and if. Jannik lost, whether it was against heat or Cerundulo.. he got defeated fair and square. I don't typically want to blame his physicality or diet here tbh, its just that his body can't take it. He is born in a different climate and habitat, his body is that of a ginger's and is genetically similar to that of a victorian child anyway.
He can finish Career Slam another year, I know he will. If Roger could do it, so can Jannik. I genuinely hope that after this brilliant performance throughout the entire clay season, people won't disrespect jannik by saying that he isn't an all surface player. I will personally punch them if anybody says like that. It's a loss, I know and I also know how Jannik gets after a loss. He becomes a madman.
This slam meant a lot to him, we all know it. RG will come next year as well. He achieved so much already this year so I am not veryyyy sad. I am more happy that he got that deserving rest, and then he can come to play Halle (as a WC ofc) and Wimbledon. I advice all the janniksin fans not to lose hope.
Congratulations to Cerundulo again, for capitalising the opportunity. I am really happy that players are finding that confidence and mentality to challenge the top 2 players and increase competition, even if it's by 1-2%.
Once again, I hope that you get your proper well deserved break Jan, tho I am sorry it had to find you this way, but take rest. Eat well, visit your parents, finish that Lego Eiffel tower with Mark, play some golf, some video games and visit Monaco GP this Sunday. I am sure that one day Paris will love you back mi idolo. Forza Jannik ✊🏻🇮🇹
