A security breach marred Roger Federer's first-round win at the French Open on Sunday "when a fan walked on to Court Philippe Chatrier and attempted to take a selfie with the 17-times grand slam champion," according to Julien Pretot of REUTERS. The Swiss "appeared startled as the fan appeared on court as Federer walked off." Security staff then "whisked the offender away." Federer said, "I'm not happy about it. Obviously not one second I'm happy about it. It happened yesterday in the practice, too. It's just a kid, but then three more kids came. And today on center court where you would think this is a place where nobody can come on, he just wanders on and nothing happens" (REUTERS, 5/24). In London, Barry Flatman wrote more than four months on from the Charlie Hebdo shootings, France’s
national security "remains on high alert." Yet "somehow a male teenager managed
to get on to the playing area of the French Open’s main Court Philippe
Chatrier." Federer "demanded that the tournament organisers at Roland Garros tighten security." Federer: "I definitely think this is something that needs to happen quickly." According to Federer, "he was similarly accosted by three spectators after practice on Saturday." He said, "I’m sure they will take the necessary steps now, but this doesn’t only mean for this tournament for this year. It means for all the tournaments we play all the years coming up." French Open Dir Gilbert Ysern "rushed to the men’s locker room soon after the match to apologise to Federer for the intrusion." However, when questioned, Ysern said, "I’m not going to tell you I’m happy with what happened this afternoon. But honestly, at this stage, there is no reason for us to change the security procedures. It was just a lack of judgment this afternoon. Clearly the security people who were on court did not do the job the way they should have done." Speaking of Federer’s reaction, Ysern said, "He has good grounds for being unhappy. I prefer to react to what happened. I think to some extent it’s not the end of the world" (LONDON TIMES, 5/25).
