As tennis stars protest, French Open fans flock to see the lower-ranked players they say they support

You don’t do that just at the start of the tournament. I understand it’s a tactic but it’s not very elegant, and elegance is important,” said Joel Assoun during an interview on the Roland Garros grounds. A

PARIS — “You can always have more, but what’s the point? ” Friday at the French Open , one lifelong tennis fan from Paris was unimpressed not by events on the clay courts, but underneath Court Philippe-Chatrier, in the tournament’s media center and interview rooms. “It’s completely out of order.

You don’t do that just at the start of the tournament. I understand it’s a tactic but it’s not very elegant, and elegance is important,” said Joel Assoun during an interview on the Roland Garros grounds. Assoun was just one of the fans who packed the sun-kissed outside courts — and Suzanne-Lenglen, the venue’s second show-court — to watch players from the lower 100s and 200s of the world rankings fight for a place in one of the four most prestigious tournaments in the sport.

In the interview rooms, the biggest stars in the game, who shortened their duties to 10 minutes of news conference and a five-minute video interview just for Friday, said that their protest over Grand Slam prize money is designed to support those very players. “It’s not about me,” women’s world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka said in her news conference.