Let’s start with the brass band.

That’s what caught Ben Shelton off guard when he walked onto court Sunday to face Hugo Gaston of France. The venue was Court 14: a sunken stage that can very quickly become a suffocating cauldron of noise and mayhem when the opponent is a native son.

“This is the first time that I’ve come out to a tennis match and had a band playing in the stands on my court,” said Shelton. Shelton, the 15th seed at this year’s French Open, is no stranger to rowdy crowds; he played two years of college tennis at the University of Florida. Away matches at Kentucky Tennessee and Georgia were especially nasty, he said.

“You play in the SEC (Southeastern Conference) all bets are off.” 

If the bets are off on campus, then at Roland Garros, they’re somewhere in the Seine. All match long, the band played on, a bass drum thumping and summoning the rhythmic clapping, the trumpets and horns tooting and rousing the standing-room-only crowd of thousands to its feet to shake Shelton into as many faults and errors as it could.

This is how tennis rolls at the French Open, turning a genteel sport known for its etiquette-obsessed fans into the frenzies of soccer matches. 

It’s not everyone’s cup of tea. The lords of Wimbledon would have none of it, and the All England Club has long set the standards for much of the sport. But these are two of just a handful of weeks during the tennis season when a tournament reminds a sport that it does not have to abide by the norms of Victorian-era Great Britain.

Players and fans alike might enjoy themselves a tad more.   

“They’re really into it and I felt like they really love tennis,” said Denis Shapovalov, a Canadian who got similar treatment later that evening when he took on France’s Luca Van Assche a few hours later on the same court. Shapovalov, a massive Toronto Maple Leafs fan, is no stranger to the boozy and brazen throngs at sporting events — just not the ones he’s playing in.

“Pretty fun as a tennis player, even though it was against me.”

After a series of pressure-cooker clashes in the early rounds, tennis players and fans are being forced to re-engage with the current rules of the game. At its best, tennis is a sport that inspires uncontrollable emotions, from awe and ecstasy to desolation and pain. Fans going through those emotions are expected not to show them — at least until a point is over — and even then, not to show them too much.

Lines do get crossed and in Paris, players not from France bear the brunt. Belgium’s David Goffin was plenty salty after his five-set win over France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on Tuesday night, taunting the crowd with a cupped ear for mere seconds after it spent more than three and a half hours taunting him.

The Parisians have form. Taylor Fritz ran around the court with his finger on his lips after toppling Arthur Rinderknech of France last year, screaming, inaudibly beneath the din of boos, that he wanted them to “let me hear it!”

Goffin was a little more unnerved.

“It goes too far, it’s total disrespect,” the mild-mannered Belgian told reporters from his country following the match. He claimed a fan had spit gum at him.

“Soon there will be smoke bombs, hooligans and fights in the stands.” He compared that behaviour to that of soccer fans — the implication that it simply has no place in tennis. 

Goffin gave some back (Benoit Doppagne/Belga Mag/AFP via Getty Images)

World No 1 Iga Swiatek then gently scolded the Court Philippe-Chatrier crowd on Wednesday for making noise in the middle of points as she prevailed in three sets over Naomi Osaka in a gripping duel.

Swiatek understands the enthusiasm of the French crowds, she said, but there is decorum in tennis, an expectation of silence in the audience, though plenty of her peers, namely Frances Tiafoe, think that concept should have gone away long ago. Reading between the lines, Swiatek, though addressing the topic in general, was only really talking about one point: as she moved on to a regulation drive forehand volley deep in the third set against Osaka, someone screamed out as she addressed the ball. She missed the volley.

If tennis players were constantly exposed to noises of varying pitch and intensity, mapped to the contours of their rallies — just like in almost every other sport — this kind of thing wouldn’t be a problem.

When a gasp emerges from a vacuum, it is much more jarring.

“I just wanted to point out that it’s not easy for us,” Swiatek said. “French crowds can be kind of harsh, so I don’t want to be under the radar right now. I don’t know if that was a good decision or not, but I hope they can treat me as a human.”

This has all caused quite the stir at the French Open, and tournament director Amelie Mauresmo said Thursday that she would no longer permit spectators to drink alcohol in the stands. Umpires and security officials have been put on alert to snuff out unruly behavior.

But fans getting emotional in the middle of a point, as long as it’s not intentionally done to put off a specific player, is not a punishable offense.

“If you throw something at a player, that’s black and white, you’re out,” Mauresmo said. “Expressing emotions, during a point, isn’t the same thing.”

Given the singular nature of the French Open, it’s also hard to tell whether all this is a genuine referendum on the nature of spectatorship, or more of an occupational hazard of being in the City of Light for a fortnight. Home advantage is as old as sports and warfare, and there is something inherently unfair about it in tennis. Players from only four countries — Australia, France, the United Kingdom and the United States — can experience a home-court advantage in the Grand Slams, the most important events in the sport.

Home favorite Caroline Garcia even got a portrait last year (Robert Prange/Getty Images)

Everyone else has to make do with the extra oomph of a home crowd (and its proven effects on umpires and referees) at tournaments that don’t mean nearly as much and offer far less prize money. The circumstances at this year’s tournament are also a little strange.

Rafael Nadal vs Alexander Zverev and Swiatek vs Osaka aren’t your typical first- and second-round matches; they’re the kinds of occasions fans are used to seeing in semi-finals and finals, when the jeopardy is at its peak and emotions run highest. When Andy Murray won his first Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic in 2013, the entire Centre Court crowd let out a pealing screech on match point, when Djokovic’s first ball flew high and deep in the air, and an awed gasp when it landed not out, but in. He sent the ball back to Murray. Murray returned the favor.

Djokovic put the next ball in the net.

The venue exploded.

Murray in the crowd after his Wimbledon triumph in 2013 (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Petar Popovic, the coach of Corentin Moutet, put house money into full effect for a first-round match against Nicolas Jarry, a powerful Chilean coming off a run to the final in Rome. In February, a partisan crowd in Chile, where they do rowdy tennis as well as anyone, had made life fairly miserable for Moutet. Popovic told the press he wanted the French crowd to exact some revenge. And they did, razzing Jarry for every fault and error, breaking his concentration and his spirit, turning Court Simonne-Mathieu into a Roman amphitheatre. Moutet prevailed in four sets, including 6-0 in the last.

This rousing support can also only do so much. The last French woman to win the French Open was Mary Pierce in 2000. A French man hasn’t won since Yannick Noah in 1983. Other players are simply better.

Let’s get back to the band. 

They are part of La Banda Paname, a collection of roughly 50 musicians who provide spirit and entertainment at various sports events throughout the region. BNP Paribas, the international bank that is one of the biggest sponsors of tennis and the French Open, has them on the payroll here, under the name “We Are Tennis”. They are decked out in all white, with matching logoed polo shirts. 

“We started at Queen’s Club for the Davis Cup against Great Britain in 2015,” said Vincent Raymond, who was part of the five-man crew on Tuesday.

“Andy Murray punished us.”

Striking up a tune (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

Raymond was joined by bandmates, Julian, Brice, Nicholas and Yohann: two trumpets, drums, a trombone, a flugabone, and an emcee/conductor. Their mandate, he said, is to create noise, support France and support the sport. They have seats reserved all over the grounds, so they can bounce from court to court.

The way it’s been going for French tennis, that means going wherever France needs them during the first week. Generally, the French players are out of the tournament after that. “Then we shift our strategy,” Raymond said. “We want to provide a fair play atmosphere. It’s tennis after all. The key is to stop playing before the umpire says no more.”

The band, however, can only control what they can control. Once they get the crowd going, all bets are off, especially on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, the 10,000-seat gem of an arena, where Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry took on Arthur Cazaux, the rising 21-year-old Frenchman in the first round. 

Cazaux won the first set in a hurry then fell off a cliff, losing the next two. He was still getting pounded midway through the third, down a service break and seemingly minutes from defeat. His shoulders slumped, his legs dragged. 

Then, as Cazaux, came back out onto the court after a change-over, the crowd grew louder than it had been all day, with plenty of help from that band. A collection of Cazaux’s friends, seated just above the back of the court, traded chants and arm pumps with fans on the other side of the stadium, like they had been practicing for months. 

Etcheverry took a few deep breaths, and served.

Fault.

More chants. More screams. A brief chorus.

Another fault.

Within minutes, the crowd had manifested a break for Cazaux. He couldn’t hold his serve, so they manifested another for him. 

“I had a second breath due to the crowd, so thanks to them,” Cazaux said later. “I love this kind of atmosphere.”

Then that refrain: “It’s like a football match.”

Etcheverry said the atmosphere was as tough as it gets.

“I play a lot of times against French guys,” he said. “It’s tough, every moment.”

Alas, it was not tough enough. Cazaux fell in four sets, the crowd screaming until the dying moment, and then for a few more after. 

The band checked the schedule, and moved to another court.

(Top photo: AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

Micah Parsons quickly became one of the best defensive players in football.

The 11th pick of the 2021 NFL Draft has finished in the top three in each of his three seasons for the Defensive Player of the Year Award, and he’s trying to get a new deal.

The common practice for players in his situation is to not touch the field until pen goes to paper.

And the Dallas Cowboys pass rusher has not taken the field at their practice complex.

Parsons was at the complex Wednesday, and head coach Mike McCarthy said Thursday Parsons has been there more than people realize. But he still threw a jab at his prized possession, saying Parsons is missing an “opportunity to improve.”

“I think anytime you have a chance to be together, it’s an opportunity to improve, whether it’s in the mental realm, the physical realm, which is limited obviously this time of year, and the emotional connection and so forth,” McCarthy said. “But, you know, it’s a long year. Training camp is really the heightened focus for all of that. But, yeah, it’s definitely an opportunity that’s been missed.”

Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons (11) calls out defensive signals during a game against the Detroit Lions Dec. 30, 2023, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. (Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

GIANTS’ DARREN WALLER RELEASES STRANGE MUSIC VIDEO ABOUT DIVORCE FROM WNBA STAR KELSEY PLUM

Shortly after Dallas lost in the wild-card round to the seventh-seeded Green Bay Packers, Parsons said he wanted to be more of a leader.

CeeDee Lamb is also absent because he is looking for a new deal after the best season of his four-year career.

Parsons has had 13, 13½ and 14 sacks his first three years. He made first-team All-Pro in 2021 and 2022 but slipped to the second-team last season. 

Micah Parsons of the Dallas Cowboys reacts against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field Nov. 5, 2023, in Philadelphia.  (Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

He finished behind T.J. Watt for the Defensive Player of the Year in 2021 and Nick Bosa in 2022, while falling behind Myles Garrett and Watt last season.

Amon-Ra St. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Nico Collins are the only players from the 2021 draft class to receive contract extensions.

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What the Dodgers hoped was a drought-busting, six-run, eighth-inning rally in New York on Wednesday looked more like a mirage Friday night, their bats going back into sleep mode for most of a 4-1 loss to the last-place Colorado Rockies in front of a crowd of 47,542 in Dodger Stadium.

An offense that showed signs of life during a three-game sweep of the Mets managed only one run and four hits in seven innings off Rockies sinker specialist Dakota Hudson, a 29-year-old right-hander who entered with a 1-7 record and 5.54 ERA in 10 starts this season and did not throw a pitch harder than 91.6 mph Friday night.

“The sinker-baller is sort of an outlier now in baseball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Hudson. “It’s [a pitch with depth], and it just seemed like he was putting the ball on the ground, getting us to roll over, missing the barrel. We couldn’t really muster anything against him tonight.”

The Dodgers, trailing 4-0, did stir in the eighth inning when they loaded the bases with no outs on a Gavin Lux double and a Miguel Rojas walk off Hudson, and an Andy Pages single off reliever Victor Vodnik, a hard-throwing right-hander.

That set the table for the top of a Dodgers order that features three of the best hitters in baseball — Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman.

“Bases loaded, no outs … it was setting up to be a good spot for us,” Roberts said. “I would not have wanted anybody else up at that point of time.”

There would be no dramatic comeback. Betts grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, Lux scoring to trim the deficit to 4-1, Ohtani walked and Freeman struck out on a 94-mph full-count fastball from left-hander Jalen Beeks, who later retired the side in order in the ninth for his sixth save.

Betts, Ohtani and Freeman combined to go hitless with one walk in 11 at-bats, 10 of them against Hudson.

“He has a good sinker that he throws at the bottom of the zone,” said Lux, who had an infield single and a double off Hudson. “It’s tough to get it in the air, as you can tell with all the ground balls he got. He did a good job.”

Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler, making his fifth start in his return from a second Tommy John surgery, took the loss, giving up four runs — three earned — and six hits in six innings, striking out seven and walking four.

Buehler escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the first by striking out Kris Bryant with a 97-mph fastball on the inside corner and Brendan Rodgers with a 96-mph fastball on the outside corner, but he needed 28 pitches to complete the inning, a heavy, out-of-the-gate workload that seemed to take a toll a few innings later.

Ezequiel Tovar singled with one out in the third, and Ryan McMahon walked. Buehler got Elias Diaz to fly to right field for the second out, but Bryant roped an RBI single to left field for a 1-0 lead.

Rodgers followed with an RBI single to center field that went under the glove of Pages and rolled to the wall for an error that allowed Bryant to score from first for a 3-0 lead and Rodgers to take third.

Buehler walked Elehuris Montero before getting Brenton Doyle to fly to right on his 26th pitch of the inning, but he hung a first-pitch slider in the fourth to Tovar, who crushed a solo homer to left-center, his eighth of the season, for a 4-0 Colorado lead.

“The first inning was a long, tough inning,” Buehler said. “You’re happy to get out of that kind of unscathed, but it’s deflating for our team when you have a first inning like that. You want to come home from a road trip and build momentum, and I did the opposite of that.”

Buehler retired the side in order in the fifth and sixth innings, striking out Jake Cave looking with a nice 89-mph cut-fastball on his 92nd and final pitch of the game, Roberts calling the pitcher’s ability to complete six innings “a win in itself.”

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But Buehler, who went 23 months between big league starts, was not in the mood for moral victories. The erstwhile Dodgers ace is 1-3 with a 4.32 ERA in five choppy starts, with 24 strikeouts and seven walks in 25 innings. He has shown good velocity and stamina and has looked sharp at times, but his command has wavered, and he has given up six homers.

“Physically, I’ve probably exceeded where I thought I was gonna be, but performance-wise, I feel like [crap],” Buehler said, when asked to assess his overall performance after five starts. “I’m not anywhere close to where I want to be.

“You think with a layoff like that, you’re not gonna have the same expectations you always have, but when you start tallying these starts, it’s kind of put-up or shut-up time for me, at least mentally, and these last two obviously haven’t been good enough.”