How to Watch the French Open?

Harry_Wild

G.O.A.T.
Yea, she is and she does a fairly good job of discussing some technical aspects here and there as well.

It's a little surprising to me that the Italians created a tennis specific channel and not the Spanish and especially the French in some ways. Those 2 would seem to be the most likely candidates in recent years. I don't know much about broadcasts of tennis in Eastern Europe though I imagine in Serbia (which is probably not large enough), Czech Republic (same problem) and Russia, there might be some interest in such a thing too.

I believe Russian tennis channel has FO coverage in Russia. Tennis is popular, more so then in the U.S. as you can tell from ESPN electing not to pay for the rights to cover the FO this year and next!
 

intrepidish

Hall of Fame
I believe Russian tennis channel has FO coverage in Russia. Tennis is popular, more so then in the U.S. as you can tell from ESPN electing not to pay for the rights to cover the FO this year and next!

Are you saying there's a channel which is dedicated only to tennis in Russia? What is its name if so?

I don't mean a channel like ESPN or Eurosport...
 

TennisFan3

Talk Tennis Guru
Does anyone know which Eurosport channel is showing the French Open? Is it EuroSport 2? Or does it vary by the day?
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
Try this if you can manage to get a French IP address by proxy:
http://www.francetvsport.fr/roland-garros/direct
Thx sdont this still works with the right VPN.:)

Unfortunately eurosport got trickier and with my IP Address in UK they now require my payment method to be UK :mad: (US Credit card will not work). @fecaleagle even had ipad figured out so he could get app on it, but not sure if he's still able to Eurosport. They have one month for around $10 and I wanted to do that for all the English coverage and to pay something to someone.:rolleyes:

This year, I'm using FranceTv and then adding in Tennis Channel via Free one week trial later for Friday to Friday SF or maybe earlier if i don't like the whole half for the Tennis Channel's early Men's SF match (7 a.m. on Friday).:
https://flixed.io/tennis-channel-without-cable/

My laptops hdmi output is busted (tripped over cable busting it and one of my Atmos sound bars input along with cable) so this year for FranceTV I'm doing screen mirroring from ipad pro 10.5 to my Apple TV 4K which is not as easy as it sounds.;)

First I'm using Torguard VPN which does work with francetv this year (not all VPNs will, so free trial a few), but this also requires torguard on the Apple TV 4K and they don't have app for that device. So I have a baby wifi router from Torguard that I got free for signing up for two or three years at ultra cheap rate. One thing with Torguard is once in a while you do need customer support, they do a fine job of supporting their product. They ended up remoting into my network to get everything working.:love: Overall I'm exceptionally satisfied with them and their amazing performance in general. The only caveat with this cheap portable router is it does choke on higher speeds....just 3 to 4 Mbps (enough for HD tennis) when using portable router, otherwise I'm around 23 to 24 Mbps). I've tested torguard on faster internet and its had produced some very fast speeds, so hardly a choke point at all for most purposes, even high speed downloads and as of a year ago much, much better high speed service then competing VPNs.:giggle: If you get (or have a router that can load the right firmware) one of their high performance routers then you don't choke like my portable router. To change country on the torguard router you have to login to it with LAN cable ( http://192.168.8.1/ ) and then select another country, so not as easy as standard torguard client. I still have my main router that can be used normally. For the next few weeks my little torguard is set to Paris, France and I just login to it with devices I want (for me I LAN cable from appletv 4k into torguard router so no password entering on tedious tv device with no keyboard.)

All of this is free save the VPN service (and you can try free trials with many). For me just Tennis Channel is kind of worthless because in the first week of the tournament they are guaranteed to NOT be showing the match you want to watch, let alone replays.:sneaky: You should have tennis channel plus which is normally $100 per year, but right now they are offering 20% discount (Promo Code TIA20). ChannelPlus does not get you the main tennis channel so for that either you already have cable login or do a free streaming trial in the link above. I plan to start my free trial on Fubo around 1 pm EST Friday or so and cancel in one week right after first Men's SF on Tennis channel is done. NBC has all the final weekend coverage.

PIA for me this year, but at least its Free whereas in years past for proper Tennis Channel coverage you were looking at an over $1000 commitment for the year (annual cable package) to get proper coverage for RG.

Note: if screen mirroring like this with FranceTV turn mirroring off when watching initial commercials forced down when starting a feed (this also stinks if you want to dump from match to match as its about a one minute FranceTV tax every time.:mad:)
 
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Otacon

Hall of Fame
Thx sdont this still works with the right VPN.:)

Unfortunately eurosport got trickier and with my IP Address in UK they now require my payment method to be UK :mad: (US Credit card will not work). @fecaleagle even had ipad figured out so he could get app on it, but not sure if he's still able to Eurosport. They have one month for around $10 and I wanted to do that for all the English coverage and to pay something to someone.:rolleyes:

This year, I'm using FranceTv and then adding in Tennis Channel via Free one week trial later for Friday to Friday SF or maybe earlier if i don't like the whole half for the Tennis Channel's early Men's SF match (7 a.m. on Friday).:
https://flixed.io/tennis-channel-without-cable/

My laptops hdmi output is busted (tripped over cable busting it and one of my Atmos sound bars input along with cable) so this year for FranceTV I'm doing screen mirroring from ipad pro 10.5 to my Apple TV 4K which is not as easy as it sounds.;)

First I'm using Torguard VPN which does work with francetv this year (not all VPNs will, so free trial a few), but this also requires torguard on the Apple TV 4K and they don't have app for that device. So I have a baby wifi router from Torguard that I got free for signing up for two or three years at ultra cheap rate. One thing with Torguard is once in a while you do need customer support, they do a fine job of supporting their product. They ended up remoting into my network to get everything working.:love: Overall I'm exceptionally satisfied with them and their amazing performance in general. The only caveat with this cheap portable router is it does choke on higher speeds....just 3 to 4 Mbps (enough for HD tennis) when using portable router, otherwise I'm around 23 to 24 Mbps). I've tested torguard on faster internet and its had produced some very fast speeds, so hardly a choke point at all for most purposes, even high speed downloads and as of a year ago much, much better high speed service then competing VPNs.:giggle: If you get (or have a router that can load the right firmware) one of their high performance routers then you don't choke like my portable router. To change country on the torguard router you have to login to it with LAN cable ( http://192.168.8.1/ ) and then select another country, so not as easy as standard torguard client. I still have my main router that can be used normally. For the next few weeks my little torguard is set to Paris, France and I just login to it with devices I want (for me I LAN cable from appletv 4k into torguard router so no password entering on tedious tv device with no keyboard.)

All of this is free save the VPN service (and you can try free trials with many). For me just Tennis Channel is kind of worthless because in the first week of the tournament they are guaranteed to NOT be showing the match you want to watch, let alone replays.:sneaky: You should have tennis channel plus which is normally $100 per year, but right now they are offering 20% discount (Promo Code TIA20). ChannelPlus does not get you the main tennis channel so for that either you already have cable login or do a free streaming trial in the link above. I plan to start my free trial on Fubo around 1 pm EST Friday or so and cancel in one week right after first Men's SF on Tennis channel is done. NBC has all the final weekend coverage.

PIA for me this year, but at least its Free whereas in years past for proper Tennis Channel coverage you were looking at an over $1000 commitment for the year (annual cable package) to get proper coverage for RG.

Note: if screen mirroring like this with FranceTV turn mirroring off when watching initial commercials forced down when starting a feed (this also stinks if you want to dump from match to match as its about a one minute FranceTV tax every time.:mad:)
Why don't you use IPTV ? I ditched satellite and cable TV a year ago and I never looked back.
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
Why don't you use IPTV ? I ditched satellite and cable TV a year ago and I never looked back.
IPTV is UK and they don't have all the matches for RG unless I'm missing something. The free trial of streaming service for tennis TV >>>>>> IPTV. Its been a few years ago, but the IPTV feeds not exactly stunning resolution, but certainly better than the typical stream.

Of course for RG if you want good audio commentary then searching site like sportstream (if using Windows chrome with ad blocker) is fine, but you get very poor resolution. These low quality streams great if you're listening at work and using phone with cellular data. My suggestions generally are for watching on nice HD big screen TV where you're slumming it with 720p resolution.
 

Otacon

Hall of Fame
IPTV is UK and they don't have all the matches for RG unless I'm missing something. The free trial of streaming service for tennis TV >>>>>> IPTV. Its been a few years ago, but the IPTV feeds not exactly stunning resolution, but certainly better than the typical stream.

Of course for RG if you want good audio commentary then searching site like sportstream (if using Windows chrome with ad blocker) is fine, but you get very poor resolution. These low quality streams great if you're listening at work and using phone with cellular data. My suggestions generally are for watching on nice HD big screen TV where you're slumming it with 720p resolution.
This is a good read if you want more information on IPTV :
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
This is a good read if you want more information on IPTV :
Doesn't look really tennis related feeds. I may have gotten something bass ackwards. IPTV is Kodi streaming and one can pay for that I believe at varying rates (believe I have convo with member where $15 per month). But it is just as shady as streaming I think (just more effective). For Tennis only viewing its a bit pricey to me and the quality I'm not sure is betterer than 720p for the most part.

The bass ackwards was ITV with IPTV. ITV is lesser UK provider that has some single channel slam coverage for those too stingy for Eurosport Player.
 

RokasLTU

Rookie
I use these all the time.

Tuchka is mainly for Eurosport 1/2, LiveTV has a lot different streams.

For higher quality streams you will need AceStream.
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
I use these all the time.

Tuchka is mainly for Eurosport 1/2, LiveTV has a lot different streams.

For higher quality streams you will need AceStream.
8 matches on at RG right now, will this allow you to watch the match of your choice?
 

albertobra

Hall of Fame
I am truly p*ssed that we can't have a tennistv like option for GSs. Where the .... does the ITF belong? To the middle ages?
Every time the same for GS. Getting unknown streaming on the web, fill up PC with malaware, vírus, you nane It.
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
For the record FranceTV is more than a bit prejudiced in what they offer in the way of match replays (Frenchie = Replay), so best to keep a live eye on the more unknown matches one wants to see.

One can watch all the matches in 1080p in France for free on FranceTV.
In US must have Tennis channel AND Tennis Channel plus (on sale for $80 a year, see my post above.)
UK has great option Eurosport Player which is my favorite due to the extras and they also have commentary on around half of the matches very roughly whereas FranceTV has little. Tennis Channel has some commentary again roughly around 50% (they use to let you rent for a month like Eurosport Player).
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
Well I'm on Fubo TV for 7 day trial and have tennis channel; never mind their idiotic match selection showing monfils vs hoang over Thiem v Cuevas and of course end of Coric v Struff. Eventually their will be one match on at a time and they can't screw that up.:sneaky:
 

gosto44

New User
Maybe someone has already suggested this, but when I was in France we watched tons of the matches on french tv. We could stream it at this site
You will probably need a VPN and the commentary is in French, but it has excellent cinematography.
 

Harry_Wild

G.O.A.T.
I have Thunder TV but choose only the U.S. UK and Canadian channels since I only know English! Love the IPTV! Got 7 devices for $18 a month, 2,500 channels and has everything I want! In the Fall, I am going get Australia/New Zealand channels too!
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
transplanted question
USA viewers: What are my (legal) options for being able to watch all rounds of RG? I know Tennis Channel and NBC have some rights to it, but I'm not clear on if they both have full coverage, or if I would need both. Any clarification would be appreciated. Also, any recommendations about streaming services (SlingTV, etc.) or purchase packages would be appreciated!

I'm coming back to tennis watching after having cut the cord a few years ago, and this all seems to be bewildering.
The correct way is to get the tennis channel plus app. Its $110 per year. Its a great value right now sine the year will include RG 2021:
This however does not get you matches on tennis channel. This also gets you a lot of wta/atp for the year, but again you need tennis channel in a cable,package for the main matches. I would definitely search the Internet for promo codes and you might wanna soon sign up really soon just in case those get canceled during the event.

NBC will have a lot of weekend coverage and of course the finals and they will have the second semifinal on Friday which has been a pattern for many years. You'll need tennis channel for the first semi final.

Sling has sports package with the main tennis channel. youtube tv too. If you can make it to the 2nd week you might be able to do free trial for 7 days. Since Friday 11 am est nbc takes over SFs you could start trial Friday before if you want to time close.

If this sounds bad it was much worse just A few years ago. Back then you really had to get a cable package to get tennis channel and of course that was a ton of money and he had to sign up for a year. It was extremely difficult to watch the French Open. Contrast that to the other three majors were you just have ESPN and you use the watch ESPN app with ESPN3 access. disneyNOW has a subscription service for sports that you pay like five dollars a month for four called ESPN plus I think. Now it only gets you replays of the matches and the Livestreams you'll get access with the proper cable package. so yeah it's rough for the French Open, but it was much worse before for honest subscribers.

now if you're going to watch on a personal device or smaller TV you can get excellent quality for free with this link:
it used to work without a VPN but now you need one. my VPN is very shaky and I have to keep reconnecting with different IP address because this really nordvpn links. this also has lots of other basic channels and most of the news channels will work without a VPN. I have a friend who won't stream and use VPNs, but was comfortable using the service and turn me onto it.

I myself do not do tennis channel. The last time I did their subscription services when you could get it for just a month but now they force you to get it for an entire year. I get tennis TV which covers everything except the majors for $120 per year. It is just ATP and no blackouts from domestic US channels having coverage anymore.

so every year I face the hurdle of watching the French Open thanks to tennis channels complicated structure. last year i use TorGuard VPN which is very good and was able to work with France TV feeds from France last year. And France this is broadcast for free. if you have a computer with an HDMI output that can go to your TV that could be quite effective. Of course the commentary is in French. I'm not confident that a lot of the feeds will have commentary this year because they're have been cutbacks.

To add insult to injury there's a chance the French Open gets canceled this year due to Covid!
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
Free Streams Live: freestreams-live1 DOT com/tennis-1/
Shows TTC, ESPN, TSN, etc, etc
Well done!
@BevelDevil
I just tried this on my iPad for tennis channel and it works fine without a VPN and looks great. Looks like they have the TC plus feeds too. I just tried super tennis frommitaly and I can’t get through on my iPad because of ads, but if you have Google Chrome on a Windows PC with ad blocker it should be relatively safe and easy.

this is remarkable quality, Bravo!

edit. Having trouble with the above Link, try this

nope now this won’t work:mad:

But not bad with Torguard. Ymmv
 
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Meles

Bionic Poster
I have Thunder TV but choose only the U.S. UK and Canadian channels since I only know English! Love the IPTV! Got 7 devices for $18 a month, 2,500 channels and has everything I want! In the Fall, I am going get Australia/New Zealand channels too!
Most stuff stops working quickly, but IPTV different. How has the last year been?

Do you get ravishing 1080p video quality?:love:
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
Maybe someone has already suggested this, but when I was in France we watched tons of the matches on french tv. We could stream it at this site
You will probably need a VPN and the commentary is in French, but it has excellent cinematography.
Excellent link, I hope it’s working this year. you need a good VPN are use torguard and it worked last year.
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
But they would be available on demand for replay? If so, is it usually available right after the broadcast ends? Thanks so much for the info!
Possibly for replay, but I don't remember. They should have replays.
you can start watching 2019;)
If you are game to get that I definitely would and then you can add swing with the tennis channel if you reach a situation where you can't watch what you want. I do the seven day trial the second week or subscribe for a month.
 

Marius_Hancu

Talk Tennis Guru
THIS STILL WORKS FOR THE ROLAND GARROS STARTING NOW WITH MEN'S QUALIFS:cool:
VERY CLEAN IMAGE

The Ukrainian streaming site
allowing quick switching of matches at very good
clarity is back in a new version.
---
It still works but I hope they fix the website soon.

PC: https://1xsone.com/sportzone/SportZone_1.5.1.exe
[download and install by clicking twice]

Android: https://1xsone.com/sportzone/SportZone_1.2.3.apk

IOS: https://1xsone.com/sportzone/SportZone_1.6.1.dmg
----
Seems OK (very clean), but it's your responsibility as to viruses,
etc.

Once installed, open the program. It generates its own
browsing window.

Click on top left triangle.
Select Tennis.
Select tournament.
Select match
Click Play.
 

Harry_Wild

G.O.A.T.
I watch almost everything on TC. And I hate it when ESPN takes over half the coverage because it is one or the other, and then you can't get matches on TC.

I hope that means we are not going to get cheated out of later matches this year on TC...
You need to broaden your tennis viewership to EuroSports and Channel 9 in Australia TV. They are much better at doing everything! Commentators are not cheerleaders for American players and makes numerous excuses when they are going down. ESPN and TC are just one sided sycophants for the USTA now and it’s players! Much better if you can get EuroSport tennis coverage! In addition to match coverage, both foreign channels takes you around the tournament grounds and lets you inside the tournament players areas too! They have interviews with interest tour players, ballboys, coaches, etc... It like you are their at the tournament itself. Plus, you get a worldwide at tennis itself!
 
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Gary Duane

G.O.A.T.
You need to broaden your tennis viewership to EuroSports and Channel 9 in Australia TV. They are much better at doing everything! Commentators are not cheerleaders for American players and makes numerous excuses when they are going down. ESPN and TC are just one sided sycophants for the USTA now and it’s players! Much better if you can get EuroSport tennis coverage! In addition to match coverage, both foreign channels takes you around the tournament grounds and lets you inside the tournament players areas too! They have interviews with interest tour players, ballboys, coaches, etc... It like you are their at the tournament itself. Plus, you get a worldwide at tennis itself!
Do you have ANY idea that what you replied to was from 2016???????????????????????
 

Fedinkum

Legend
main.png;compress=true

If there is one positive came out from tennis falling behind with popoularity is that all our local commercial tv channels couldn't be bothered to telecast tennis these days, so our government channel grabbed it and they have been doing a fantastic job. They have minimum ads and are showing all the centre court matches instead of wasting time on our shltty Australian players.

Bonus: I dont have to hear Todd Woodbridge's voice.
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
main.png;compress=true

If there is one positive came out from tennis falling behind with popoularity is that all our local commercial tv channels couldn't be bothered to telecast tennis these days, so our government channel grabbed it and they have been doing a fantastic job. They have minimum ads and are showing all the centre court matches instead of wasting time on our shltty Australian players.

Bonus: I dont have to hear Todd Woodbridge's voice.
link please!
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
You need to broaden your tennis viewership to EuroSports and Channel 9 in Australia TV. They are much better at doing everything! Commentators are not cheerleaders for American players and makes numerous excuses when they are going down. ESPN and TC are just one sided sycophants for the USTA now and it’s players! Much better if you can get EuroSport tennis coverage! In addition to match coverage, both foreign channels takes you around the tournament grounds and lets you inside the tournament players areas too! They have interviews with interest tour players, ballboys, coaches, etc... It like you are their at the tournament itself. Plus, you get a worldwide at tennis itself!
what are you watching this year?
 
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