The Athletic has live coverage of Day 3 of the 2026 French OpenPARIS — Tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the French Open crowds is a place of serenity. A haven to wander freely and slow down, a peaceful corner of Roland Garros where overcrowded walkways give way to more than 500 plant species. Shrubs like the pistacia terebinthus scale 10 meters, while the deep red flowers of the callistemon rigidus are yet to bloom.Walk deeper into the 19th-century Auteuil Botanical Gardens, designed by Jean Camille Formigé, and more botanical wonders come into view: Four glass botanical greenhouses, containing the only plant ecosystem of its kind in the world. Within those walls, partially sunken beneath the ground, lies a red clay tennis court.At the French Open, tennis stars and fans saunter through these tranquil gardens to reach Court Simonne-Mathieu, which opened seven years ago to the day on May 26, 2019. Named for the two-time French Open women’s champion and leader of the French Volunteer Corps during World War II, it is a retreat from the main grounds of Roland Garros, a marvel of a court unlike any other at the four Grand Slams.But the moments of calm can quickly fade. When a home hope walks among the plants and flowers to take their place on the clay — especially at night — it transforms into a bearpit.The court, the third-largest at Roland Garros with a capacity of 5,261, was part of a $442 million expansion project, designed to forge ahead in the endless arms race for supremacy between the four biggest tournaments in tennis.The court’s construction was controversial. The build was delayed amid disputes between the French Tennis Federation and environmental campaigners who objected to what they called “a symbol of blind destruction of heritage, biodiversity and landscape” in French newspaper Le Monde. Formigé’s grandchildren also opposed the plans, and after the Paris High Court halted works, it took an intervention from Prime Minister Manuel Valls for the court to be built.