Superteles in Roland Garros? Press / fans?

I'm interested to know what is the story behind the numerous superteles outside the press boxes by the court. There seems to be quite a few big white lenses in the hands of ordinary spectators that seem to be mostly following the game, and not shoot for press purposes. Are they really avid fans, because in that case tennis is quite an extraordinary sport

It depends which one you mean. I didn't watch any of matches in Roland Garros this year, except yesterdays Djokovic vs. Federer, so I might be wrong. During this match I saw quite few just next to court in first line. These were photographers for sure, since this is normally place where we can be. But why it looked like they are following game as spectators and not shoot? Simply... match went on for almost 4 hours. You need 20 or 30 photos from match, and celebration photo on end. So you are trying to kill those 4 hours there, since you get all the photos you need in first 10 or 15mins already. That's reason why tennis is most boring sport to shoot for me.
If you meant others then those, then I would need some more info where exactly they were There are other positions around the court too, and normally you can go almost anywhere on tribune, so it could also be that. Or there could be just normal spectators who were allowed to bring bigger lenses in. I have no idea what's policy about this in Roland Garros... or anywhere else in matter of fact

as far as I know, in US Open you can bring in any size of photo equipment like large lenses, in Australian Open you can bring max 200mm lens. In Wimbledon it is prohibited to bring any photo equipment. So, for French Open it could be either way. Organizer always set rules.

Karver wrote in post #12541547
as far as I know, in US Open you can bring in any size of photo equipment like large lenses, in Australian Open you can bring max 200mm lens. In Wimbledon it is prohibited to bring any photo equipment. So, for French Open it could be either way. Organizer always set rules.

Just to say that at Wimbledon I have never had a problem, lots of people have pro looking gear in the stands. I wasn't aware of any rules against photography from the stands.