How I Got Tickets to Roland Garros

Like every hardcore tennis fan, it was my long-time dream to watch my favorite Grand Slam tennis tournament, Roland Garros (or as it is commonly known, the French open), live in person. Held in Paris for two weeks starting late May, Roland Garros is the only tennis Grand Slam tournament played on red clay, the slow surface preferred by European and Latin American tennis players. For this reason, backcourt rallies tend to be longer and powerful serves are blunted by the clay, leading to the most exciting tennis matches, in my opinion.

Obviously, the first question that comes to mind is, how does one get reasonably priced tickets to Roland Garros? A Google search of "Roland Garros tickets" or "French Open tickets" turns up a multitude of ticket reseller websites, all offering steeply marked-up tickets. For instance, on the opening day of competition, Frenchopen2008.net offers tickets to the "white zone" of Court Suzanne Lenglen for 180 euros (US$270), while the official price is a mere 45 euros (US$68)! Moreover, for a grounds admission pass to Roland Garros, another website Tennistickets.com charges a whopping $200 which borders on criminal as the official price is 21 euros (US$33).

Faced with this dilemna, and desperate to attend Roland Garros, where could this tennis buff turn to for tickets? Luckily enough, who else but the official French Tennis Federation (FFT) came riding to the rescue. Turns out that the FFT allocates Roland Garros tickets to ordinary citizens via a lottery draw held in April, and one only needs to fill up an application form on their website to be eligible. Sounds incredible? Yes, it does, but as a proud holder of tickets to the first three days of this year's Roland Garros tournament, let me show you the steps in obtaining Roland Garros tickets and things to keep in mind.

The reservation period starts in mid-November and ends in mid-March. At any time within this period you should visit the French Tennis Federation website and create an online account. After doing so and logging in with this account, click the link that says "to buy tickets for Roland Garros" (by default the website is in French, so make sure that you choose English as the language). A screen then shows up which asks you to select the specific dates of the tournament that you wish to attend, the number of tickets desired, and the type of ticket (i.e. for which court and zone). For example, Court Suzanne Lenglen is divided into three ticket price ranges: red zone, white zone, and blue zone, in descending order of price. After you have entered the selections, the FFT website will ask for your credit card details, and a confirmation email is sent indicating your reservation number, number of seats requested, total amount, and further details as far as order processing is concerned. A warning: Be sure you can attend Roland Garros on the dates you specified, as you will not be given a chance to modify your order nor change your mind!

In case your reservation number is high, don't be discouraged. In my case, I applied in late January and my number was 210,547, which made me think the odds of getting tickets to Roland Garros were slim. I needn't have worried, as a lottery draw determines the order in which reservation forms are processed, and allocations done according to the quota of seats available as the reservation forms are processed. In plain English, it means that despite being 210,547th in line, the luck of the draw determines when my order is processed. It could be processed 1st (extremely lucky!) or 1000th (still lucky!) or 250000th (bad luck!). Another factor to consider are the Roland Garros tickets you are requesting. If, like most people, you want to watch the final rounds then chances might be slimmer to obtain those tickets. To illustrate, let's say your order was the 50,000th processed. Customers clamoring for Roland Garros finals tickets in reservation forms 1 to 49,999 might have already exhausted the quota for those tickets, thus you will not be allocated the seats you desire. However, if you're like me who prefers to watch the early rounds of Roland Garros, getting those tickets will be easier.

Finally, April came, and just when I least expected it, an email arrives from the FFT announcing that I had been allocated the six Roland Garros tickets I requested months ago. Since the email was in French (what's up with that?) I had to run it through an online language translator, and so it took a while to comprehend what I was reading. "I'm going to Roland Garros, I'm going to Roland Garros!", I exclaimed excitedly to my colleagues once the jubilation sank in. True enough, my credit card was promptly charged (remember my warning about not having a chance to cancel your order?) and two weeks later the tickets arrived in the mail along with the official tournament spectator guide. I got a great kick out of seeing my name printed on the tickets! Now that I'm counting down the days to my flight to Paris, every time I look at the tickets, I smile and say "Here I come, Roland Garros".