The French press is reporting that the Roland Garros French Open tennis tournament in Paris has had no seats available since February 28th. No tickets will be sold over the counter - as was traditionally the case a few days before each tournament. For tennis enthusiasts, the only recourse, will be to get some tickets for access to the outside courts (from 15 hours or 17 hours) recovered from spectators leaving the stadium early, or invitation by a business partner of the event.

The French Open, runs from May 23 to June 6 at Porte d'Auteuil in Paris.

"This is the first time it has sold out this early," said Frederick Longuépée, deputy director of the French Tennis Federation (FFT), in charge of ticketing, public relations and event management.

Because demand exceeds supply (3 to 1 ratio) it was the fastest sellout of the French leg of the Grand Slam.

Overall, in the space of two and a half months, around 180,000 tickets were sold out between licensees, the public and businesses (sponsors and companies buying tickets for their customers or their prospects) which totalled revenue of 26 million euros, or about 20 per cent of the total turnover of Roland Garros.

"In 2007, online sales accounted for 6,000 places, 38,000 in 2008 and 125,000 in 2009", Said Frederic Longuépée. "For the latter, the success of this policy of "ticketing" is based on two pillars: good use of customer database of the federation and the new segmentation of the offer."

"Before, you could buy as single tickets but now we are building packages," added Longuépée. For instance... one new innovation is the 'player pack' and this is not only set to see a particular player on a particular day - but also allows the opportunity to attend training, visit the VIP areas etc... And all with a personal greeting by hostess and access to one of the restaurants usually reserved for corporate customers."

The player pack was worth €950 euros and 650 of them sold in two weeks.

Overall, the price of tickets at Roland Garros increased 15 per cent, (with an average price of €55 euros for the general public).

Efforts online have also been set to try and battle the secondary ticket market, as tickets sold on the Internet are registered (you can pass them on to third, but only online and in the name of the new ticket holders). New terminals will be installed at the entrance of the stadium to scan the tickets.

French Open Tickets will still likely show up on the European Secondary Ticketing Marketplaces at Worldticketshop, GETMEIN! , Viagogo and Seatwave.