Newest Roland Garros Stadium Gives French Open New Seating Options

It once took a dedicated ticket to get into Court Simonne-Mathieu, the 2019-opened 5,000-seat stadium sunk 15 feet below the ground at Roland-Garros, home of the French Open. For 2023, though, fans with any ticket can experience one of the more distinct venues available at a major tennis tourney, one merged with greenhouses and set within the botanical garden area of Roland-Garros.

While 2021 marked the end to a major stadium and grounds upgrade for the 18-court Roland-Garros site, the changes in 2023 will allow fans with any ticket to access the upper stands of Court Simonne-Mathieu as general admission seating.

“There will be around 2,000 seats and it will help people enjoy their experience here,” says Amélie Mauresmo, tournament director. “I am really looking forward to seeing how it goes. The idea is still to make sure fans have a great time and a unique live experience.”

Part of the recent upgrades, 12 courts on the Roland-Garros grounds have lights, but the only dedicated night session in 2023 will still happen on Court Philippe-Chatrier, the main stadium on the site that added a retractable roof in 2020. New for this year, the night session start times will move up to 8 p.m. local time, a 30-minute bump. Mauresmo says the change will help create a more “festive” atmosphere at the site and an interactive show will kick off the session.

The smallest footprint of the four major tennis tournaments, the French Open enjoyed major upgrades through 2021. For Court Philippe-Chartrier, the retractable roof uses 11 panes atop 11 trusses to span 344 feet. The canvas covering can close in about 15 minutes.

Original plans called for lights on the site’s four largest courts, but when the pandemic pushed the 2020 tournament from spring into fall, the French Tennis Federation expanded the lighting program to 12 courts to ensure the shorter fall days could still host the early rounds of the tournament.

But a new roof and lights weren’t the only upgrades at Philippe-Chatrier, a venue that had been in place in some form on the site since 1928. Following the 2018 men’s singles final, the site was demolished, and new stands built in time for the 2019 tournament, improving comfort and visibility for up to 15,000 guests. The rebuild of the seating bowl allowed for a new space for players beneath the stadium, including more space for changing rooms, a warm-up room, player restaurant with its own delicatessen and a tunnel that leads directly to the site’s second-largest stadium, Court Suzanne-Lenglen.

The 2019 opening of Court Simonne-Mathieu in the southeastern part of the grounds near the Serres d’Auteuil gardens gives the site its third-largest venue. It comes surrounded by four greenhouses, inspired by the architecture of the adjacent Formigé greenhouses. The semi-sunken nature of the court design encourages the stadium to blend into the gardens and greenhouses that contain collections of tropical plants from America, Africa, Oceania and Asia. By moving the new stadium away from the main venues, the setting offers fans a fresh perspective on the Roland-Garros grounds.

From 2018 through 2021 Roland-Garros also opened a mix of refurbished new courts and the Place des Mousquetaires plaza. Now in 2023, fans of any ticket can experience a slice of Roland-Garros freshness with the 2,000 seats available at Court Simonne-Mathieu.