PARIS—Roger Federer criticized the French Open tournament after a fan was able to walk onto Court Philippe Chatrier after his first-round win over Alejandro Falla. Court security did not immediately stop the young fan before he approached Federer and tried to snap a picture with his mobile phone. Federer also claims that some young spectators came up to him while he was practicing on Saturday.
“I’m not happy about it. Obviously not one second I'm happy about it,” Federer said. “It happened yesterday [Saturday] 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, just wanders on and nothing happens. Happened during the [Roland Garros final against Robin Soderling] finals in '09 as well for me. So I definitely think this is something needs to happen quickly.
“Normally I only speak on behalf of myself, but in this situation I think I can speak on behalf of all the players, that that's where you do your job, that's where you want to feel safe. And so clearly I'm not happy about it. But nothing happened, so I'm relieved. But clearly it wasn't a nice situation to be in.”
Federer said that the fan wanted to take a picture, but he didn't talk to him. He also added that the security guards should have been more vigilant. “I think people should react more quickly,” Federer said, criticizing the the security level. “First, it should never happen and that's the first thing, we should have done beforehand. I'm not just speaking about Roland Garros, but now that we are playing Roland Garros, there are so many players, so many fans, so much focus by the media on Roland Garros that people should react much more quickly. That's true as well for the other tournaments. I think it's essential.
“I think that's in terms of safety, they should be well-educated. They should know what they do. It's not just being there, standing there on the courts wearing a nice tie and suit. It's not that funny. And I hope that there is going to be a reaction from the tournament. They apologized, and I must say that I appreciated this, but I'd like to see what's going to happen next.”
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