Their early demise has left Venus's sister Serena flying the flag for dog lovers. The Williams sisters have a third dog, Pete, who they left at home in the United States. Pete has a broken heart right now. In something of a tradition, journalists covering the French Open can drink their fill of one of France's best known reds. One hundred bottles are laid on each day in the press restaurant.
Nothing says it's free, but everyone knows it is.
We open 100 bottles a day and when they've gone, hard luck. The tournament also has a well-attended Beaujolais Day, an oyster tasting evening and a champagne cocktail reception for the world's media. A claycourt tournament it may be, but the French Open can be a terrible place for hay fever. Set in the woods of the Bois de Boulogne on the edge of Paris, the leafy Roland Garros tennis complex gets more than its fair share of visitors suffering from sneezing and sore eyes. We've dealt with a lot of cases this year.