Changeover notes: Fonseca arrives, a sponsorship shuffle, and Roland-Garros’ ad board problem
A breakout moment for João Fonseca, absurd courtside advertising, and fresh sponsorship intel from Paris.
I’m back from Roland-Garros, and what a whirlwind it was. It was my first time at the French Open, and I walked away with a long list of things I appreciated and a few that drove me crazy.
On the positive side, the tournament is incredibly chic. Everything from the outdoor seating areas to the hospitality suites felt more elevated than most events, and the grounds were impressively clean. On the other hand, the site isn’t nearly spacious enough for the crowds it attracts, and I often found myself slowly shimmying through packs of overheated bodies just to get from point A to point B. Air conditioning was, of course, scarce because, for reasons I’ll never understand, the French remain deeply suspicious of it. And while the food in the hospitality suites I was lucky enough to visit was excellent, many of the public vendors had run out of food and drinks long before the night session began.
The best thing I ate all week was a chicken pesto sandwich on focaccia that my pal Wolf Oswald pilfered from the Players’ Lounge for me—they really do have it good in there. If you’re alarmed by that choice, just remember I didn’t have much time to explore Paris this trip. The best thing I drank was either a margarita at Le Royal Monceau or an iced coffee from O Coffee, which absolutely lives up to the hype. Reilly Opelka and Ethan Quinn dubbed it “the best coffee in Paris.”
Anyway, let’s get into a few Hard Court-worthy stories from the week, plus some inside scoop I picked up in the City of Light.
Dangerous advertising
After a few athletes, including Katie Boulter, tripped over the ill-placed Lacoste advertising blocks at the back of each court, Zeynep Sonmez injured herself on one of them while playing doubles yesterday. She ultimately retired from the match, posting on Twitter later in the day that she left the court with two stitches and a bruised knee. “Thankfully it wasn’t worse,” she wrote. “Do we really have to wait until a player is seriously injured before these courtside boards are removed?”
Roland-Garros released a slightly defensive statement in the aftermath, noting that, although its courts “currently exceed the international circuit minimum requirements regarding the distance between the baseline and the back of the court,” the tournament is most focused on player well-being and would make adjustments.
On Saturday, the ad blocks on the outer courts had been moved behind the line judges, but those on Chatrier and Lenglen remained in place. While some argue that, because those courts are bigger, they pose less danger, I still think it’s risky to keep them so far out.
More than anything, I’m baffled by this choice of advertising placement, which sits only a few feet in front of the sponsor signage already lining the back of the court. Lacoste is a premium partner of Roland-Garros and its official outfitter, reportedly paying around €10 million a year, so I understand the desire to give the brand special treatment. But what exactly is the upside here? Lacoste already owns a huge amount of visual real estate at the tournament. The extra exposure these blocks provide feels negligible, making them a strange hill to die on when players are openly raising safety concerns.
Fonseca takes down Djokovic (and sort of silences his haters)
I don’t recommend watching a high-profile match like João Fonseca vs. Novak Djokovic on a plane with extremely spotty WiFi—you’ll get blurry glimpses before it crashes entirely and then eventually reboots only to crash again—but I was determined.
Fonseca has had a loud chorus of haters denigrating his every move since early last year, when many in the media proclaimed him the next big thing, even comparing the Brazilian mania surrounding him to that of The Beatles. Every loss has seemed to hold extra weight for these people, acting as proof that, no, actually, Fonseca is overrated. Those who are fans have questioned his schedule, arguing that he takes too much time off or doesn’t play the right tournaments.
Through all of this, I’ve felt bad for the kid. Imagine just starting out on tour with a bunch of strangers placing huge expectations on you that you didn’t ask for, and then feeling the need to live up to those expectations with every match. I don’t know about you, but that would fuck with my head. There’s simply a larger spotlight on him at a time when he’s still becoming the tennis player he will ultimately be, in a phase that is rightfully filled with ups and downs.
So when he took out Djokovic after being down two sets, finishing the match off with three confident aces, it felt like his tears were a pressure release after a year and a half of public scrutiny. It was an impressive win, and an emphatic statement to the naysayers that he is, in fact, one to watch.
Of course, some people will never be impressed by him. Fandom has a way of hardening opinions like that. They’ll point out that Djokovic is 39, or that Fonseca has only made it to the fourth round. But that feels like a strange response to a 19-year-old coming back from two sets down to beat one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. Plenty of players a decade older than Fonseca still haven’t managed that. For one afternoon, at least, it felt like the conversation shifted from what he isn’t yet to what he might become.
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