Sacré bleu! The French Open banned alcohol in the stands after fans were called out for rowdiness

PARIS (AP) — One player said a French Open spectator spat chewed gum toward him. Another, No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek, chastised the crowd at the main stadium for making too much noise during points.

So the folks in charge of the Grand Slam event at Roland Garros decided enough was enough: Tournament director Amélie Mauresmo said Thursday that — Sacré bleu! — fans now are banned from having alcohol while attending matches. Which, not all that surprisingly, was not necessarily a huge hit with some of those paying for tickets.

“They should let us drink,” said Ana Malevukovic, a 37-year-old plastic surgeon from Serbia, standing near a bar selling a “garden spritz” outside Court Philippe Chatrier. “It's allowed everywhere else. Why shouldn't it be allowed at a tennis match?”

In another part of her effort to rein in the rowdiness at what is supposedly a genteel sport, Mauresmo — who won two Grand Slam titles as a player more than a decade ago — said security would be tightened around the site on Day 5 of the major tournament held annually in southwest Paris.