Opponents of French players at the French Open deal with insults and whistling and, yes, even gum
Sports
Others choose stronger terms
PARIS (AP) — In all sports, there are advantages to being at home. At the French Open tennis tournament, being a visitor playing against a French player can feel as though the whole world is against you.
The crowds don’t just cheer. They boo, they whistle, they make noise between serves, they hurl insults — and, at least once, even gum — at the locals’ opponents. That sort of behavior is why the tournament organizers banned alcohol from the stands last year, a policy still in place.
Some of the non-French athletes who deal with that sort of negativity in Paris, such as 19-year-old Jakub Mensík of the Czech Republic, who eliminated Alexandre Müller in front of a rowdy crowd at Court 14 on Tuesday, compare the high-intensity atmosphere to that of a soccer game.
Others choose stronger terms.
