Before the start of this tournament when Iga Swiatek was asked to reflect on her chances at the 2025 French Open, she said, “Obviously, it would be stupid to expect much from Roland Garros because I am not in a position to play my game at this moment.” Fast forward to the third day at this mega clay court event, Swiatek has now secured her 23 consecutive victories at the Roland Garros. She literally outclassed Britain’s Emma Raducanu by 6-1,6-2 in the second-round matches. But wait a minute! Why was there such a low turnout in the battle of the four-time champion against the 2021 US Open? Fans skipping this blockbuster clash has now raised quite a few question marks about the French Open’s houseful ambitions.
Before this match, the former British number one, Annabel Croft, said for Raducanu “It’s a tall mountain to climb” because beating the ‘Queen of Clay’ is certainly not a walk in the park. Even the seven-time French Open champion, Chris Evert, gave a few advice to Raducanu on how to handle this massive challenge. “The thing I think about Emma right now is that she’s got nothing to lose. She can’t be stressed out in this match. She can’t play tight tennis. She’s got to go out there and just play relax, loose tennis, knowing that all the pressure is on Iga.“
But as it says, “Cometh the hour, cometh the woman!” Iga Swiatek yet again showed the world why she’s one of the most fierce opponents on this surface. Talking about fear, the Brit knew, “If I just push the ball, I’m probably going to get eaten. I need to, like, hit the ball.” Her fears turned out to be true, as it took just 1 hour and 19 minutes to seal the deal for the Pole. More than a victory, this was like a clear signal of what’s coming up in the next few weeks. But seeing this grim picture in the stands with such a low turnout, became the talk of the town after this match.
2023 Miami Open held at at Hard Rock Stadium on March 22, 2023 in Miami Gardens, Florida. Featuring: Emma Raducanu Where: Miami Gardens, Florida, United States When: 22 Mar 2023 Credit: Robert Bell/INSTARimages PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxUKxFRA Copyright: xRobertxBell/INSTARimagesx 0240358607st
Court Philippe Chatrier has a seating capacity of around 15,000 and if we take a look at the price chart, on May 28th the last-minute ticket prices on the day were €170 (i.e. roughly around $192.2) in the Gold Category. If we multiply the ticket price with the seating capacity, then the total amount rises to around $3 million. So, these visuals from the iconic Philippe Chatrier highlighting the empty seats depicts the enormous amount of ticket wastage for this enticing encounter. What does the fans have to say on this, though?
Fans are disappointed to see such a low turnout at Iga Swiatek’s matcha against Emma Raducanu
As per WTA’s reports, the audience soared to new heights during the 2024 season as fans around the world watched the drama unfold across almost 50 tournaments on the WTA Tour. After surpassing the 1 billion milestone for the first time in 2023, the WTA’s cumulative global audience rose by 10% last year to reach a record of around 1.1 billion on broadcast and streaming platforms worldwide. But seeing such visuals of empty seats in a blockbuster clash at the Roland Garros, made the fans say, “I thought women’s tennis was popular…“
The rise of players like Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sablenka, along with the American girls including Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys, and a few others have made WTA more popular and entertaining among the masses. However, these scenes have now started to build up a different picture in the minds of tennis fans. Another one wrote, “Masterclass by Swiatek she comfortably beats Raducanu 6-1, 6-2. Swiatek able to move Raducanu around with her slice and great depth of shots. Lots been said about women not getting night slots but the number of empty seats in this match will tell you why.“
Just before this match, Emma Raducanu made a plea highlighting the concern about not getting enough time to practice on Philippe-Chatrier. She said, “I feel like certain players get preferred treatment. I honestly think it’s really difficult because the tournament doesn’t really help in terms of getting you court time on the bigger courts or on like the match courts, really. I feel like, I don’t know, certain players get preferred treatment. It’s very different from at the annex, for example, across the road or other courts to then kind of jump onto Chatrier or jump onto a stadium. It isn’t easy. I wish they would give us more opportunities on the stadium or bigger courts, especially if we’re going to play on them.“ Now, seeing her poor performance not only raised a few eyebrows, but this low turnout has also become a topic of discussion.
One of the fans said, “Very disappointing to see so many empty seats on Court Philippe-Chatrier for Swiatek-Raducanu, the last match of the day session…“
Talking about controversies at the 2025 French Open, well, there have been plenty so far this season. Previously, players like Ons Jabeur highlighted the lack of women’s matches being scheduled for the night session and then Novak Djokovic’s second-round match getting shifted to Court Suzanne Lenglen instead of Philippe-Chatrier also created a lot of buzz recently. Amid all these, the low turnout became the new issue that the French Open organizers had to encounter. A fan wrote, “It’s impossible to get RG tickets, everything sold out yet so many empty seats. Also for Paolini. Shame really.“
Nevertheless, it was an outstanding performance from the former world number one. What did she say after this match, though? “I felt good on court, so I could do whatever I planned to, whatever I wanted to. This place inspires me and makes me work harder,” said Swiatek. With this win, she has now taken her H2H record to 5-0 against Raducanu. Commenting on this match another fan noticed its strange low turnout, “And just for good measure look at all the empty seats for Raducanu and Swiatek.“
Next up for the four-time champion will be either Sara Bjlek or Jaqueline Cristian, but on the other hand, Emma Raducanu is scheduled to return to action in the Queen’s Club tournament on grass, which begins on June 9. Share your thoughts on this epic second-round battle and its low turnout.
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