PARIS — If you’re watching Novak Djokovic’s match against Philip Mithoric on Saturday night and hear some cheers from the place from the crowds at Court-Cote-Philippe Chatelier, don’t be wary. With Paris Saint-Germain’s encounter in the Champions League final against Inter Milan in Munich, the Parisians have attracted more than half the attention on how the French Open match is progressing.
This week is about Roland Garros, and tournament director Amelie Molemo is fully aware that Paris will focus on sports that have been split on Saturday nights.
“We can’t prohibit people from looking at the phone and tracking soccer games at the same time,” Mauresmo said. “There is no goal of 10 or 20. If you’re going to make a little fuss once or twice, that’s fine.
About 1 km from Roland Garros is Parc des Princes, where PSG plays home matches. The stadium is decorated with Champions League-related equipment, and on Saturday evening, 40,000 fans will see the team play on four huge screens towards the corner of Paris. It will be a logistics nightmare for local governments, and an estimated 5,400 police will be deployed in Paris to focus on celebrations and repentance. But that amount of people headed to the Parc de Princess and alongside the Roland Garros crowd, they opened an extra metro line to help the crowds come and go to the 16th Allendisment.
“There’s a police department team around Roland Garros that’s deployed,” Mauremo said. “A safety agreement will also be established.”
PSG players visited the property early in the week. Gianluigi Donnarumma was in Jannik Sinner’s box for a match against Arthur Rinderknech on Monday. “Donnaruma and I have been good friends for a while,” Sinner said. “We know each other very well.”
Two Italians in Paris
Meetings in between #sinner e #Donnaruma
There was a PSG goalkeeper
Jannik’s box for his debut #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/zljgka8oxz– OK tennis (@oktennis) May 27, 2025
Striker Gonzalo Ramos was also visited, just like Joan Neves. Ousmane Dembélé won the first round victory over Christopher O’Connell from Ugo Humbert. “(He’s) my favorite footballer and I love his personality and how he plays. He’s played an incredible season,” Humbert said. “It’s a dream world. At first, I didn’t notice, but when someone yells, ‘Oh, ma’am from the Champions League!’ “I thought he must be there.
Tennis players are also frequently asked about matches. Arthur Phils, 20, of France, wanted to make sure he wasn’t scheduled to see PSG in Saturday night’s match session. And he toyed the idea of watching the match in person, but logistics didn’t allow it.
“I think it’s difficult to fly there,” Phils said. “I’ve always loved Paris. I’ve played a bit of football myself. And when I really started watching football, this was when (Kilian) Mbappe and Neymar arrived. I thought he played amazingly in his first year in Paris. There was also Zlatan (Ibrahimovic).
Frog Monfils, who fell on Jack Draper on Thursday night, had to take his daughter to trampoline lessons on Friday morning, but had planned to head to Munich afterwards. However, it relied on his third round match against his wife, Erina Svitoria, Bernarda Pera. “My wife wants to stay with me,” Monfils said. “Initially I knew where I was on Saturday, but now there are a few possible places. If my wife wins, I feel like I know where I am.”
Knowing a few of the Inter players, Lorenzomsetti has already made it safely to the fourth round, and despite being a Juventus fan, he is rooting for Inter. “I live in Juventus (with) and it’s not easy to talk about football. But I’m going with the Italians. I’m going with Inter.”
Djokovic made a less subtle plea to Mauresmo to avoid the evening session where he spoke before the Saturday schedule was announced. “The one I’ll support will be PSG,” Djokovic said. “If I wasn’t having an evening session, I would definitely see it, yeah, that would be fine.
Alas, Djokovic’s plea was deaf. So, Paris’s attention is primarily in the final of the Champions League, but Djokovic arrives at Chattlier, trying to reach the fourth round, and attempts to ignore the unexpected cheers.
