BEACH VOLLEYBALL BRINGS THE NOISE IN DEBUT AT ROLAND GARROS

BEACH VOLLEYBALL BRINGS THE NOISE IN DEBUT AT ROLAND GARROS No ‘quiet please’ inside arena as clay turns to sand on legendary centre court

For the first time in the 94-year history of Roland Garros, 400 tonnes of sand covered the floor of Court Philippe Chatrier as beach volleyball made its debut at the iconic home of French tennis on Thursday.

Day one of the Beach Pro Tour Paris Elite 16 event saw thousands of fans entertained by Olympic and world champions as the highest level of beach volleyball competition graced the hallowed surroundings of one of the world’s most illustrious sporting venues.

Reigning Olympic and world title holders Anders Mol and Christian Sørum secured two victories on the opening day of competition and are now aiming to follow in the footsteps of tennis player and countryman Casper Rudd this week.

“He played the French Open here and went all the way to the final, and we hope do to the same,” said blocker Mol, who together with Sørum are among the favourites for gold in Paris.

“This season has been a bumpy road; it’s only our third Beach Pro Tour event of the season. There’s been some bad luck and sickness but we’re just happy to play again and do it at Roland Garros is an honour.”

With the 2024 Olympics heading to Paris, French eyes were fixed on the three home teams going for glory at Roland Garros.

Hopes were high earlier in the day when Arnaud Gauthier-Rat and Youssef Krou took the first set and reached match point in the third set against 2020 Olympic bronze medalists Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan. However, the Qataris, ranked eighth in the world, fought back to silence the home crowd and earn a narrow victory.

It was a similar story for Beach Pro Tour debutants Remi Bassereau and Julian Lyneel. After losing the first set to Poland’s Hamburg Elite 16 winners Michal Bryl and Bartosz Losiak, the Frenchmen looked set to take the game to a decider, leading by five points at one stage in set two. But the Poles, who have been in fine form this season, took nine of the last 11 points to triumph in straight sets.

On the women’s side, the one competing home team – Lezena Placette and Alexia Placette – enjoyed the bittersweet feelings of playing on Court Philippe Chatrier but losing their opening match of the tournament. The French women’s number ones went down in straight sets to Swiss pair Tanja Hüberli and Nina Brunner.

Court Philippe Chatrier set-up before game play on Wednesday

Three more days of beach vibes coming to Roland Garros

The action on the sand continues throughout the rest of this week. Matches in the pool play phase end on Friday, while the quarter-finals take place on Saturday morning. Floodlit matches follow on Saturday evening with the semi-final matches in both men’s and the women’s competition. The finals, where the champions will be crowned, will take place on Sunday.

Tickets are available to fans by clicking here. Live streaming of the event can be watched on Volleyball World TV.

Information and photo source : International Volleyball Federation