French Open announce alcohol ban in crackdown on raucous behaviour

The French Open have banned fans from drinking alcohol on court in a bid to crack down on increasingly raucous behaviour this year.

It becomes the only one of the four Grand Slams to not allow alcohol in the stands.

Belgian David Goffin said a spectator spat his chewing gum at him during his win against French player Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and said: ‘It’s becoming like a football match.’

And on Thursday tournament director Amelie Mauresmo said that after an emergency meeting, Roland Garros have decided to ban fans from bringing alcohol on to the court, as one of a number of measures to curb the bad behaviour.

‘So a few things have been put in place: first of all, the umpires are going to be even more strict to further respect to the players and respect the game. Overstepping those two things is something that we’re not going to tolerate.

Fans will no longer be able to bring alcohol into the stands during matches at the French Open

Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo confirmed the move in a bid to combat bad behaviour

‘Alcohol was allowed until now in the stands – that’s over.

‘If you don’t behave well or if throw things at the players, that’s it, you go out. It’s very clear, the instructions are given and we will have no hesitation.

‘And in terms of security, we’re going to see which people are overstepping – because I think it’s a few individuals. These individuals, we try to calm them down or if they go too far, they go out.

‘We’re going to upgrade the security.’

‘We tried to gather information on what happened and so these are new rules from this morning. So we’ll see how it goes.’

On the specific accusation that Goffin had been spat at, former world No1 Mauresmo said: ‘We are on it, for now we haven’t found them.’ Will they be banned from future events? ‘First we need to find them, then we’ll make a decision.’

Goffin claimed the atmosphere at the French Open was becoming ‘ridiculous’, suggesting some fans were there to cause trouble.

‘A lot of people are complaining, a lot of umpires feel that there is a lot of disrespect.

David Goffin claimed he had been spat at by a fan during his win over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard

‘This is repeated a lot in the locker room and among the ATP authorities. We’re going to have to do something about that.

‘I think it only happens in France. At Wimbledon, obviously, there’s not that. Or in Australia either.

‘And at the US Open, it’s still rather quiet. Here [at Roland Garros], it’s really an unhealthy atmosphere.

‘Clearly, it goes too far, it’s total disrespect. It’s really too much. It’s becoming football, soon there will be smoke bombs, hooligans and there will be fights in the stands.

Iga Swiatek called for the crowd to remain silent during points after her win over Naomi Osaka

‘It’s starting to become ridiculous. Some people are there more to cause trouble than to create an atmosphere.

‘Someone spat out their chewing gum at me. It [the match] was getting complicated. That’s why I wanted to stay calm. If I started to get angry about it, it could have destabilised me.’

World No1 and defending champion Iga Swiatek also felt crowd behaviour went too far during her pulsating with over Naomi Osaka on Wednesday.

The Pole pleaded with the crowd after her match: ‘I am sorry to bring this up, I know we are playing for you. This is entertainment and we are earning money because of you. But sometimes under a lot of pressure when you scream something during the rally or right before the return, it’s really, really hard to be focused.’