IT was a teenage boy armed with a camera, desperate to take a selfie.
But it could just as well have been anybody, armed with anything.
Day One of Roland Garros was dominated by Roger Federer, the World No 2, shrugging off the challenge offered by Alejandro Falla of Colombia by a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 scoreline then immediately afterwards having to fend off the attentions of an intruder who was allowed by security to circumvent the advertising hoardings and confront him on the court. Even more remarkable was the fact that after the incident, he simply walked back to the other side of the arena, smiling at all and sundry.
Despite apologies and rather unconvincing reassurance given during a chat with French Open tournament director Gilbert Ysern, it was little wonder the 17-time Grand Slam champion wasn't a happy camper. This, after all, is a sport still haunted by the 1993 stabbing of Monica Seles by a crazed Steffi Graf fan in Hungary, and a city which was rocked in January by the Charlie Hebdo terrorism attacks. It was particularly mystifying considering the fact that security was assumed to be an increased priority in the wake of that tragedy.
"I'm not happy about it," said Federer, a friend of Seles, who also revealed his practice session on Court No 3 yesterday had been similarly disrupted. "Not for one second am I happy about it. It happened yesterday in the practice, too. It's just a kid, but then three more kids came. And today on centre court where you would think this is a place where nobody can come on, he just wanders on and nothing happens. It happened during the finals in '09 as well for me. So I definitely think this is something that something needs to happen quickly about. We need to make sure that it's safe out there and people don't just wander on the court like a free pass, you know."
As exercises in crisis management go, Ysern's wasn't exactly a masterclass. He laughed off the suggestion that security at the venue needs to be re-examined. "I think, well, to some extent, it's not the end of the world," said Ysern. "But it's embarrassing, of course, for Roland Garros, when something like that happens. It simply shows that we collectively as an organization made a mistake and we will have to correct that and make sure it doesn't happen again. Clearly the security people who were on court did not do the job the way they should have done, to say the least. But honestly, at this stage there is no reason for us to change the security procedures."
It wasn't the only piece of poor judgement shown by the tournament organisers yesterday, and Federer wasn't the only Swiss man pulling them up for it. After his 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 victory against Marsel Ilhan of Turkey on Suzanne Lenglen, Stan Wawrinka hit out at tournament organisers for an article on the official website which strayed further than is politic into the collapse of his marriage, and the role which Croatian teenager Donna Vekic may or may not have played in it.
"It was a completely stupid article," said Wawrinka. "It's the official website of a Grand Slam, so I hope the guy who did that article is not a journalist. I also hope the guy who is supposed to check all the articles on the website is not working anymore for the tournament. Because for me, on a Grand Slam website, it should be an article about the tennis and that's it.
"I saw the article last night," he added. "I told the tournament that I wasn't really happy about it, and I don't think it was great for the tournament to do that s**t article. That's it. But you know, I'm here to play tennis and to focus on my game. I can put that to the side, and that's it."
The controversy didn't seem to be doing Vekic much harm. She recorded a fine 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win against home favourite Caroline Garcia of France on the same Chatrier court where No 3 seed Simona Halep had struggled to a 7-5, 6-4 win against Evgeniya Rodina of Russia. Kei Nishikori and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga progressed safely through to the second round in the men's singles.
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