Roland-Garros advice

We went in 2016, during the first week. We had grounds passes for two days. The first day it took well over an hour to get through security. Once in, we found the grounds so crowded that it was difficult to move around freely. We did eventually find seats in one of the "free" arenas, and my husband had to remind someone near us that smoking was not allowed. It was not ne of our better tennis experiences. ( we had previously been to the US Open, The Australian Open, and BNP Paribas at Indian Wells, all of which were lots of fun.

We might have skipped the second day entirely, were it not for a stroke of good luck. A young friend of ours started as a qualifier and made it into the first round. He was scheduled to play against Stan Warwrinka that day, and got us passes into his players' box for the match. We went through a separate entrance ( no line) and then into the private area for players and their invitees. Wow. Needless to say, that was a great day.

Of those three days, I would choose Friday, but it is going to be crowded no matter what. Arrive early, and resign yourselves to long lines and crowds.

Tickets went on sale March 21 online and I think are sold out. I woke up at 4 a.m. So I could sign on at 5; I was able to get my ticket for May 28 without a problem (this is my first time going). Your best shot is to use the one and only authorized reseller, which is detailed on the R-G site. I bought a reserved seat at Phillip-Chatrier court.

Tickets went on sale March 21 online and I think are sold out. I woke
up at 4 a.m. So I could sign on at 5; I was able to get my ticket for
May 28 without a problem (this is my first time going). Your best shot
is to use the one and only authorized reseller, which is detailed on
the R-G site. I bought a reserved seat at Phillip-Chatrier court.

We did the exact same thing a few years ago. We set our alarm to wake up in the middle of the night to buy tickets on the one day we would be in Paris. Like you, we got seats at Chatrier.

Any experienced advice for a Friday, Saturday or Sunday mid-way
through the tournament?

One thing we really disliked about Roland Garros is that as we bought our tickets for matches on Chatrier, we couldn't have access to matches on Lenglen or Court 1. The grounds courts were jammed too and we were there on the first day which was a Sunday. So if you choose one of the show courts, you won't have access to matches on the other show courts. We're at the US Open every year and with a ticket to Ashe, you can see a match on any show court for the session for which your ticket is valid. I think the US Open is the only major that allows such access.

gbrennan, prepare for long security lines. Prepare also to show ID when you enter a show court as the ushers (dressed impeccably by the way) will want to see proof that you are the ticket holder. So if you wear a hidden money belt or neck wallet, don't put your ID in there as you will be letting the world know that you are wearing it if you have to keep retrieving your ID.

Also, prepare to wait on long lines for bathrooms. Maybe it's changed since we went 3 years ago, but there were no bathrooms at Chatrier, for example, so you had to leave the stadium court and wait on long lines to use the ladies room because there were not that many at Roland Garros.. My husband said the lines were long at the men's room too. So know that in advance.

We might have skipped the second day entirely, were it not for a
stroke of good luck. A young friend of ours started as a qualifier and
made it into the first round. He was scheduled to play against Stan
Warwrinka that day, and got us passes into his players' box for the
match. We went through a separate entrance ( no line) and then into
the private area for players and their invitees. Wow. Needless to say,
that was a great day.

Wow! Fantastic.

Thank you for your insight! I registered to buy tickets - and then just couldn't pull the trigger... We're going to put it out to the universe... If we stumble easily into tickets, we'll go. If not, I'll watch the finals on the telly after we get home.