In a high-profile opener at the French Open, Stan Wawrinka recently outclassed his British opponent, Andy Murray, with a score of 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. Given that it was a match between two former Grand Slam champions, many would have expected a jam-packed stadium in Paris. However, it wasn’t the case, as there were a large number of empty seats when the likes of Wawrinka and Murray squared off against each other. Reacting to a disappointing Roland Garros turnout, the Swiss tennis veteran later came forward to issue his honest take.

The renowned tennis correspondent Stuart Fraser recently shed light on the low attendance for the blockbuster night session match between Murray and Wawrinka. He tweeted, “Andy Murray lost a set and a break down to Stan Wawrinka in the first night session match of this year’s French Open. Bad look for the tournament to have such a large number of empty seats in the VIP area at the far side behind the baseline. The top tier is just about full.” When asked about the large number of empty seats during his match, Wawrinka said, “I think in general it was quite full in the stadium. Not the presidential [area], but the stadium, yes.”

Even on his social media platform, the former French Open champion vented out his disappointment by retweeting Fraser’s post about the low attendance in Paris.  He also said, “Yep 🤦🏻‍♂️”

A similar sight of empty seats was also witnessed in the previous edition of the clay Grand Slam tournament. Back then, it was the WTA superstar Ons Jabeur who came forward to express her frustration over the half-empty stands during the matches.

“It was terrible to see the stadium empty”– Ons Jabeur on the low attendance at the 2023 Roland Garros

During the 2023 French Open, many matches, particularly the women’s singles fixtures, were played in front of several empty seats in the stadium. Even the 7th seed, Ons Jabeur, saw a similar sight during her quarterfinal clash against Beatriz Haddad Maia, who came out on top in three sets. Reacting to the low attendance, the Tunisian player called the shortage of tickets the main reason behind the empty steams in the stadium.

In a post-match press conference, Jabeur said, “It was really good to see the Tunisians in the crowd because I know there were no tickets, and it was terrible to see the stadium empty because there were a lot of Tunisians who wanted to come and see me play.” What do you think of the large number of empty seats during high-profile matches at the French Open? Let us know in the comments section.