How to Get...French Open Tennis tickets NOW

Ooh la la, allez allez, it's Roland Garros ticket time again!!

Once upon a time, the purchase of French Open tickets was like playing on the lotto- you put in your bid, and wait to hear if you've been chosen. That random, that French. I loved it. But things changed in 2009, moving to a far more democratic and capitalist first come first serve system that works pretty well.

The French Open tournament runs for two weeks from 18 May-6 June 2010. It's held at the Stade de Roland Garros (hence the name), and despite rumours about a move, for now the tournament is staying put. This is good news. Despite the chaos rain can cause with both the premier courts, Suzanne Lenglen and Philippe Chatrier, being sans roof, getting to the grounds in the 16th arrondissement (district) is easy peasy- just follow the crowd. Once inside the grounds, a spectator is well catered for with a central food and drinks courtyard and an easy to navigate village layout.

With cheap Eurostar tickets from London, cheap TGV rail options from around Europe and cheap flights all other the continent to Paris, getting there won't be a problem. Accommodation for long or super short stays won't be a problem either (more to follow on these).

Getting inside, might. That's why I'm giving you the scoop on buying tickets NOW and leave the remaining logistics to later.

The French Federation, the governing body for French Tennis and the Slam, sells tickets to the general public via their website. This year, the 'betting'/buying will commence on Tuesday, 2nd February at 1pm. I'm not sure if this is GMT or CET. For all those one hour behind GMTers like me, I recommend checking in from 12pm...just in case. Trust me, for the best dibs on all tickets, you need to get in fast. But even with a delay of a few days, there will likely be tickets available. But forget finals, and for some reason Week One sells out very quickly. Before this date, there will be a holding page notifying you of the re-opening of the site. Members of the FFT get first dibs on tickets from January, and they tend to raid the Finals. Last year, El Salmone and I booked a few days after the firesale, and we still got tickets for the Ladies Day Semi's.

Step by step, ooh baby:


Create an Account
You will need to create an account on the website, providing a username (Nom d'utilisateur), password (Mot de passe) and a nominated email address for correspondence. This should be in the top right hand corner. The FFT will send confirmation of your new account from this address billetterie.rg2010@fft.fr.

Select a Day, Select your Ticket

The premier and biggest court is Philippe Chatrier (left), where Finals and Semi's are held. Throughout the earlier rounds, PC is used for the marque matches and where you'll likely see Roger Federer as world no.1 and Rafa Nadal as world no.2 (currently). The other big court is Suzanne Lenglen (pic below), slightly smaller. Size is an advantage on Lenglen if you're booking late because even the top tier seats provide good views and you're not as high in the eaves as an equivalent ticket on the grander, imperious Chatrier. The third option is Court No. 1 (€21-44). All ticket options give access to the smaller courts, which is in heavy use for the Singles and Doubles events in Week One. The fourth and cheapest option is to buy for the annex courts alone (€15-21)- anyone interested in seeing the stars of tomorrow, lots of Juniors tennis will be played here.


You need to select a day, seat location and quantity of tickets. The closer to the court, the more it costs (Cat 1). The further on in the tournament it is, the more expensive. Prices on PC and SL vary hugely depending on category (1-3). Wk 1 from €41- 67, a Quarters match €47-83, and €80-105 for Finals on PC. Check the price guide, Grille Tarifaire.

NB: From 3rd June 2010, Suzanne Lenglen becomes an annex court. From 30 May, Court 1 becomes an annex court. This means ticket holders from those dates can watch other matches (Doubles, Juniors, Wheelchair etc.) on these two courts.

Ticket Delivery Options

You can choose the e-ticket option, where a barcoded label is emailed to you to print out and take with you to the grounds. The advantage of this is flexibility. The queues tend to be shorter and you can change and choose who to allocate tickets to (in case you, as purchaser, cannot attend).

The other option is receiving a paper copy by post. This takes longer, and honestly, nothing beats the thrill of holding a ticket in your hand. However, there is no flexibility to change the name on the tickets of who will be attending. e.g if I input the attendees as Tessa Howard and Shaun Jones, these will be the names printed on the tickets. Come the day of entry, if the ticket supervisors ask to see some ID and the names on the ticket don't match up, entry will be denied. 

I suspect this is an attempt to dissuade unofficial ticket hawkers making purchase and re-selling at a ridiculously inflated price. So long as it's an official ticket seller though, viva same inflated prices. Being legit is a helluva drug.

Again, I chose hardcopy tickets last year sent by recorded mail. As there are less people around by the Semi's (less tennis left, remember), the queue was non-existant. Don't expect the same in Week One.

First things first: if you want to go, go buy your tickets now!

Quick Vocab

Days of Week

Dimanche- Sunday
Lunedi- Monday
Mardi- Tuesday
Mecredi- Wednesday
Jeudi- Thursday
Vendredi- Friday
Samedi- Saturday

Key Words
Nom d'utilisateur- username
Mot de passe - password
A partir de- From...(as in 'from this date on,...')
Devenir/devient- to become/becomes (Verb/3rd person conj, as in 'court no. 1 becomes an annex')
Grille Tarifaire- Ticket Prices
CATÉGORIE - ticket category/price band
Grand Public- that's us, the general public!