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ROLAND GARROSMay 24, 2015Gilbert YsernPARIS, FRANCE An interview with: GILBERT YSERN THE MODERATOR: Take some questions in English first and then in French. Q. What was your reaction to Roger Federer's comments? GILBERT YSERN: Well, I won't react to his comments, I will react to the facts. Of course his comments made sense. He was pissed off with what happened in court. He has good grounds for being unhappy. Well, I prefer to react to what happened. I think, well, some extent it's not the end of the world. Of course we should not make too big a case of that, but it's embarrassing, of course, for Roland Garros, when something like that happens. Well, it simply shows that we collectively as an organization made a mistake and we will have to correct that, of course, and make sure it doesn't happen again. Q. Will you take steps to increase security? Do you think you need to increase security? GILBERT YSERN: Well, don't misunderstand me. I'm not going to tell you I'm happy with what happened this afternoon. But honestly, at this stage there is no reason for us to change the security procedures. They are organized; it was just a lack of judgment this afternoon. Clearly the security people who were on court did not do the job the way they should have done, of course, to say the least. Again, it's a question of lack of judgment from them, and -- well, we all know in tennis, like in other sports, the current approach consists in having the players -- the crowds close to the players, you know, looking for signatures, autographs, and pictures, selfies and all that. Again, I think that's where the lack of judgment this afternoon lays. I mean, the instinct and direction of security people must have been that it was something that was acceptable, which is clearly not. So again, I think we should understand that the issue here again is lack of judgment on the part of the people who are on court. It's not the procedures that are in place that are wrong. No need to say that, of course, the message is passed again among all the security people. And tonight for sure we will reinforce the message again that clearly nobody is allowed to get on court in any case at any time for any reason. It has to be very clear. Of course, well, the fact that all you here is a good opportunity for me as well to remind everybody on court that this is still totally forbidden. And there are opportunities for the crowds to cheer for players, opportunities to get close to them. You know, we organize that, and the players are very helpful in that regard these days. They are giving some time to make themselves available for the crowds and the fans to get closer to them. But of course, the court is clearly forbidden for them to go on, and, well, they have to respect that. Of course, contrary to what happened this afternoon, we will enforce that rule more severely from today on and make sure it doesn't happen again. Q. Federer said the same thing happened yesterday with three children approaching him. Was security told about this? GILBERT YSERN: Understand that when he told me this afternoon when I got to him in the locker room after the match to apologize for what happened on the court today, he mentioned that as well. I didn't know. We didn't know it happened yesterday. Yesterday was a bit different. It's children's day. And again, where many courts, you get crowds and kids. Yesterday was clearly kids, go on court to cheer for the players, and then request signatures and things like that. Again, there was a lack of judgment. So clearly it happened twice now, so it has to be the last time it happens, and the message is going to be very clear to all the security people that, again, they have to show no sympathy for those kids who look for signatures and some sort of contact with the players. Again, there are opportunities for that that are clearly organized by the tournament with the consent of the players, which is so good for the sport and for the kids, but it cannot be this wild approach of going on court whenever they want. So again, clearly there was a lack of judgment from the people in charge, and this has to be corrected. Q. To your knowledge, was the kid who ran on the court disciplined or detained in any way? GILBERT YSERN: Sorry? Q. Was the kid who ran on the court today, was he disciplined? Was he detained? GILBERT YSERN: Yeah, he's going to be thrown out for the rest of the day, for the rest of the tournament, as well. Q. Do you know who he is? GILBERT YSERN: Yeah, we know who he is. Took a little bit of time, but now we know who he is. At this very minute we must be talking to him and his father and sending them back home. Q. Does he understand he was wrong? GILBERT YSERN: I can't tell you. I haven't talked to him yet. I hope he does. We will make sure he does. Q. Will you ask him how he managed to get so close in the first place? GILBERT YSERN: My understanding at this stage, not 100% sure, but my understanding they were in the boxes just at courtside, which makes it easy to walk on court where the security people don't pay attention. I don't think it was somebody coming from the upper seats. Q. Roger said you spoke with him. Could you tell us what you told him? GILBERT YSERN: Well, I think in that place you have to apologize. My first reaction, of course, when I was told about the incident, I got to the locker room and I told him I felt sorry, of course, as the organizer and tournament director, I felt sorry about that and I apologized for it. Q. Is the team that does the security, is it the same that has always done it or is it a new one this year? GILBERT YSERN: Well, we have new people. I guess I wouldn't say they are 50%, but it's half-half, you have people every single year, and of course you have new people every single year. But each year in any case, whether they've been here for long or their first time, they are all really prepared and the messages go to them many times of course. So unfortunately, there was a lack of judgment today, but I can tell you they know what they have to do. Q. The same company that hires those people? GILBERT YSERN: Yeah, basically the same organization. Q. Given the sad events that have happened in this city in the last few months, has security been tightened here at Roland Garros this year? GILBERT YSERN: It has, yeah. It has, we are in close contact with the police that, of course, are in charge of security throughout the country, and we follow their advices, as can you imagine, of course. And, yeah, the level of security has been enhanced clearly, yeah. THE MODERATOR: Continue with French questions. Q. Now, this sport is a very professional sport. This is a professional tournament. Is it not surprising to see someone from security would say it's normal for someone to walk on the court and just put his hand on Roger Federer during the match? GILBERT YSERN: I couldn't say this is normal. This would be a professional mistake if I were to say it's normal. No, we have to do our utmost to avoid this. Here again today, this is a wrong judgment for the people who were on the court at that moment. You know, well, of course, what I can say in their favor is that for the time being, you know, we were thinking about yesterday. Yesterday was a major day, you know. We were close to the crowd and the audience, you know, the Saturday day is special. We want to be closer. We want the audience to be closer to the players. And therefore, that's the logic, and that's why we discussed with the safety teams and their first reaction they said, okay, there was someone who was coming to the players just like yesterday they wanted to take a selfie, they wanted to have this contact. They were not aggressive, they were not hostile and they have forgotten we are no longer on Saturday. It's finished. That's over. Therefore, this was a wrong judgment from those who were on the court at that moment. They shouldn't be renewed, of course. Q. Roger said, quite rightly, that unfortunately we have seen a precedent before that was sad, Monica Seles. It ruined her life and her career. Would you say that this has to be factored in? This is something to be remembered when we talk about the safety of players? You have said in English there is no reason to change security systems on the stadium. Will you be more vigilant for the Roland Garros stadium? GILBERT YSERN: I think you have asked two questions. The first question you asked was, of course, there was a before and an after Monica Seles, that's true. This was awful. It was a drama. And from that moment onward security on all tennis courts and stadiums was revisited, reviewed in all tournaments throughout the world. So we have reached the after Monica Seles, and therefore, security levels are a lot higher than what they were before, before this dramatic Monica Seles affair. As I said before in English, I said that so far there is no reason why we should change the security systems, because it's not the system that's being challenged today. We have enough people on the courts. We have enough of them. They have been trained. They have been briefed. They have been prepared. So today, this was a wrong judgment from one of the staff on the courts who was not vigilant enough. Now, here again, this was not aggressive. It was at the end of the match. Nothing to do with what we saw in 2009, nothing at all. Of course, they would have reacted a lot faster. Of course this was a mistake. That's true. It was an error. It's nothing to do with the organization, with the processes. They shouldn't be changed. But of course we will have to convey the message even more firmly. We will do this again this evening, but it's not the system itself that has to be changed. Q. Now, this type of incident, I think it happens in all types of sports throughout the world. So Alberto Contador, think about him, or Fabien Pelous. I don't think he would complain after such an incident. Don't you think that Federer's going too far when he says he's angry? You know, it's not the end of the world, is it? GILBERT YSERN: It's not the end of the world, of course, but I understand him really well. You know, he was frightened in 2009 here. No, I wouldn't say anything against Roger when he said there is a deficit in security. Given what happened with Seles, as well. And, you know, the general atmosphere in general, you know, look at our civilization today. It's totally crazy. We have gone mad. So this is something we owe to the players. They have to be able to play safely. Well, you know, what's fortunate is we don't have barbed wire around the courts. We haven't got this physical separation between the audience and the players on the courts, but we owe this to the players. They have to play safely, totally safely. They have to feel safe when they play. So to me he has not overreacted. Roger has not overreacted. On the contrary, I would say he was very elegant. He always is. He was not really vehement in what he said, but he did not like it, which I understand. He didn't say he was frightened, and we watched the video several times. He wasn't afraid, he wasn't frightened, but this should not happen. He's right. He's totally right in saying that there is a loophole somewhere. Something that went wrong. Q. Are there common security rules that is a given number of security guards or something on each court? GILBERT YSERN: No, no. Each tournament will organize themselves the way they want, you know, with their own rules, the rules that each tournament has in coordination with the country police. The police rules vary depending on the country for the Grand Slam matches. So as far as our organization is concerned, we have strong coordination not with the other Grand Slam tournaments. With the French police. Q. To forbid someone to go to court, it's impossible, you don't have enough staff for that and to do this on practice courts, as well. How can you reduce risk? I know that zero risk doesn't exist, but how can you reduce this risk of anybody having access to the courts, getting on the courts? GILBERT YSERN: Well, this incident this afternoon really shows that, well, the level of risk is not hard. This is a misjudgment, an error of judgment. People have been prepared for that. Had the person been rushing, running onto the court in an aggressive way, he wouldn't have reached the player. Today we have enough people to do something against this, to react against this. But of course if there is a massive attack of 300 people who would all of a sudden jump on the player, we couldn't do anything against this. Maybe one day we will have to be ready for that, but I hope not. Our systems are totally different, but they are here to see to it that these incidents don't happen. The system itself is good enough, you know, the players know they can play safely here in Roland Garros. Q. Roger Federer compared what happened yesterday and what happened today during the conference, and you're making a difference. So how come? Why was it different between yesterday and today? GILBERT YSERN: No, my difference is a marginal difference. In both cases it's an organizational error, an error from the security organization. The court shouldn't be invaded. Well, this was not an invasion, but nobody should be able to get on the court. You know, maybe we will need, mark my words, relays, "relays." Of course it's a great moment today. Let's not throw the baby with the bath water, but, you know, today it's incredible. In our sport, like in many sports, champions are closer to their public. That's very important. Can I tell you, when I was an umpire, a referee, a long time ago, unfortunately, it wasn't like this. It was a lot more protected. We couldn't get close to the players. Today the players are accessible and that's very important for them to be accessible. This will have to last. This has to continue. We are on the right tracks. That's one thing. You know, we, the organizers have to structure things correctly, organize things correctly, and manage things. There is a moment when you can get close to the players and there are other moments when people want to take photos, to sign a piece of paper. That's okay. We have time for that. Time slots for that. But on the courts it's sacred, it's forbidden at any moment for whatever reason, whatever the context, it is forbidden to even have one toe on the court. All the fans should know this. Please repeat this message for me. Say I have said today. Of course we will convey the message to all the security people, but this is a message to send to everybody. This is the rule. Q. You said there is an error in terms of judgment and it seems that yesterday evening on the official site of Roland Garros there was another error about the private life of Wawrinka. Do you have any explanations about this? GILBERT YSERN: Well, no. Maybe that's the second loophole. But organizing such a tournament is a huge thing to do. It's a huge organization and it's based on people, human beings. Nobody is perfect. Everybody aspires to excellence, but excellence doesn't mean perfection. We might miss something. Yeah, that's true there was a paper that was written by a journalist and that was not appropriate. It's the least we can say. And the person in charge of proofreading missed that. It happens. You know, personally I was the victim of this not that long ago, so it might happen. Sometimes this is what happens. We missed that yesterday. That's true. One of the papers. And here again, we convey the message, we are stricter, more firmness, we have to pay attention when we proofread the papers. But given what we have on the Internet, so many people write so many things, so many papers. So controlling this is complicated. It's complicated to control all levels, but we have to do this. When we missed this yesterday, we tried to catch up. Of course, we got rid of this paper, and that's all. Everybody has faults. We have to admit it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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