NEW DELHI: Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo acknowledged the lack of "miracle solutions" to address the sparse crowds at the French Open, expressing disappointment over the poor attendance for Friday's men's semi-final between Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud in Paris.
Mauresmo, along with Gilles Moretton, the head of the French Tennis Federation, stated that efforts are underway to resolve this issue, which has been a significant concern throughout this year's tournament.
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Following Carlos Alcaraz's thrilling five-set victory over Jannik Sinner in the first men's semi-final, the match between Zverev and Ruud commenced with numerous empty seats in the main Philippe Chatrier court.
Despite tickets for the event being officially sold out, the persistent sight of half-filled stands has left a negative impression.
"I'm starting to have perhaps more advanced ideas to avoid that," Mauresmo said on Sunday without getting into further details. A tournament debrief is set to take place later this month.
"I'm not going to give you miracle solutions today, but it's something we must discuss. We're not satisfied with what we saw for the semi-finals."
Moretton was on the same page as Mauresmo.
"We can't accept seeing the stands empty like that for the second semi-final, it was already a bit like that the previous year," said Moretton, while underlining their hands were somewhat tied.
"We sold 670,000 tickets, but we can't force people to return to the court," he said.
Organisers were particularly surprised by the low turnout for the Zverev-Ruud contest, given that only 10 percent of spectators had purchased tickets for both of Friday's semi-finals.
Despite the official sell-out status of the tournament, the significant number of empty seats during this match on the main Philippe Chatrier court was unexpected and concerning. This issue has left a negative impression and underscores the need for effective solutions to enhance attendance in future events.
"It's still difficult to say to yourself that these people aren't going to come. I'm not in their head," said Mauresmo.
"More generally speaking, people aren't going to stay seated five, six or seven hours like before. It's a challenge that's not easy to sort out."
(With AFP inputs)
