Bertrand Milliard’s chronicle: Thiem eliminated even before the start of the tournament, is it really serious?

Sunday May 30, wake up late. The weather is nice. Tomorrow is the start of Roland-Garros and I’m already starting to think about my first column, for Tuesday morning. A quick tour on Twitter: what are the latest tennis news? Laurent Vergne is happy to find Roland again and posts a beautiful photo of the Place des Mousquetaires under azure sky. Hey, he’s going to work a fortnight there but he’s going there the day before the start to get his accreditation? I went there on Friday, that leaves the weekend. But when Rémi Bourrières informs that Clara Burel scored the first point of the tournament, I really don’t understand anything.

The first point of… .. but…. which tournament? Hot, panic on board. Damn it, but it is of course: the first round starts on the Sunday of the “zero-th week”, Porte d’Auteuil! Quick, the computer, the sunscreen, the pens, the bag, the glasses, no time to waste, it’s playing!

But what an idea to start a Grand Slam on Sunday! Sunday is the day of the final, of the eighth at the halfway point, even of rest for the warriors at Wimbledon… well for another year with our London neighbors where the “middle Sunday” will soon be no longer idle.

But Sunday is not a first round day! Why break it up into three days? It was indeed one part of the painting on Monday, the other on Tuesday. I am told in the headset that it would be to generate more income. Money supersedes traditions, of course.

Well, it’s true, when we were kids, we went to qualifying if we could, or the Saturday before the tournament to the Benny Berthet day, which has since become Children’s Day. And the first Monday, when the big picture opened, we were in school, then in college or high school. Without cell phone. Without internet. Frustration.

The years of revisions were different. We took a little break to breathe while watching tennis on ocher. “Leconte Svensson or agriculture in the United States? Chang Lendl or Administrative Law? Let’s see …” Dilemma. OK, ten hours of break in a day of twelve, it was undoubtedly exaggerated but ultimately not that much for a future tennis journalist …

So yes, it’s been two weeks of Roland Garros instead of fourteen. Yes, for all those who work, it allows to see the first day in peace (because obviously, this Monday, the teleworkers fans of tennis will not give in to the temptation to watch Roger …). Yes, when you love, you don’t count … But still: Thiem eliminated even before the start of the tournament, is it really serious?