PARIS – Facing a local player at Roland Garros is far tougher today than it used to be. The key difference, according to Argentine José Luis ‘Batata’ Clerc, is the behaviour of the French crowd.
“Playing against a Frenchman here at Roland Garros today is very difficult. You need to stay incredibly calm and focused. Back then, the crowd wasn’t as involved,” said the former world No. 4 in an interview with CLAY.
“The crowd has changed a lot. At that time, you had people who truly understood tennis. Today, especially the younger ones, they don’t respect the points, and they don’t respect the opponents of the French players,” Clerc added.
Clerc is a respected voice in tennis, especially when it comes to Roland Garros. He reached the semifinals in Paris twice (1981 and 1982) and has followed the tournament closely almost every year since retiring, most of the time as an ESPN commentator.
“They’re tough. Very complicated. Last year, they even had to stop selling alcohol, for example. I think the crowd completely crossed the line,” the 25-time ATP title winner told CLAY.
This year, Spanish player Jaume Munar complained about the behaviour of French fans during his second-round match against local No. 1 Arthur Fils.
“I find it completely disrespectful that they don’t stop singing and interrupting. They won’t let the match flow. When the match heats up, they don’t let you serve, and between serves they keep doing nonsense to distract you…” said the world No. 57.
In an interview with CLAY, former player Javier Frana echoed the same concerns, recalling a match between Gaël Monfils and Sebastián Báez, when he was coaching the Argentine.
“We were intimidated. I’d never seen anything like it. People were banging on the sponsor boards next to them, smashing empty water bottles to make noise. The whole stadium was singing the national anthem, and the match had to be stopped. It was the kind of atmosphere where you said, ‘I understand why this kid (Báez) is struggling, why he’s making these mistakes—he’s panicking because of what’s happening around him.’ It was deafening,” Frana recalled.
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Clerc’s battles with Noah, and a painful memory
The Argentine faced French idol Yannick Noah twice at the French Open (1981 and 1985). Noah remains the last Frenchman to win the men’s singles title in Paris.
“Playing against Yannick was always special,” Clerc recalled.
He believes he was the victim of an outrageous umpiring error in the third round of their 1985 clash, with the score tied at 5–5 in the fifth set.
This is how he remembers it: “Yannick was serving, 15-30. He came to the net, I lobbed him—a low lob, one of those that slowly climbs. He backed up, hit the smash, and fell. The ball landed in the middle of the doubles alley. It was absurd! French TV showed it for years. Maybe I would’ve lost the match anyway, but facing 15-40 is not the same as 30-all. Well, it is what it is.”
Clerc Feels at home at Roland Garros: “Sometimes I go for a walk here and run into Noah, I see old friends, McEnroe’s right next to me in the commentary booth, we hug. It’s beautiful.”
But there’s another memory he still can’t shake.
“In the 1981 semifinals, I had match point against Ivan Lendl. I attacked after a long rally, came to the net, and he hit a running down-the-line passing shot that barely caught the line,” he recalled.
Just a couple of centimetres stood between him and a final that the Czech would go on to lose to Björn Borg.
