Laundry at the French Open

 Paris — On the first day of the French Open, 256 players were in the singles draws
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About 4,500 articles of clothing were sent to be washed.
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More than 30,000 articles of clothing are taken from Roland Garros and laundered over the French Open’s two weeks.
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Players like Rafael Nadal go through more than one shirt a day.
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At the beginning of the tournament, it is like when a teenager comes home and has a full bag of laundry, said Vincent Rit, the plant manager for a company called Magic Rambo, which handles laundry needs for the French Open.
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Socks. Shirts. Practice shirts. Dresses. Shorts. Underwear. More socks. Clay-covered socks.
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Oh, the socks are a nightmare, Rit said.
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Every day, the players’ dirty laundry — literally, not metaphorically — is sent to Rit’s factory on the outskirts of Paris.
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Each piece is labeled, sorted and washed with like items.

Roger Federer’s socks might mingle with Rafael Nadal’s
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Laundry service, common on the top tours, is free for players at the French Open.
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Dump all the dirty clothes into a bag, fill out a form and place it in a bin in the locker room.
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Two mornings later, voilà.
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What had been a lump of dirty laundry is returned to the player clean, pressed and folded in a box.
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Some clothes come very dirty with clay,
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Others come very dirty with sweat.
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We can see if a player has been long on the court.
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Magic Rambo has handled the Roland Garros laundry for 19 years.
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Built to serve Disneyland Paris — it launders everything from Mickey’s head to a ride operator’s pants — Magic Rambo has about 100 employees at its 40,000-square-foot plant.
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For a couple of weeks straddling May and June, 20 employees are assigned specifically to handle the needs of the French Open.

That involves more than 30,000 articles of player clothing over two weeks.
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Players are always changing clothes.
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When they practice.
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When they compete.
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When they practice again.
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Justine Henin said she went through about four tennis shirts a day.
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Novak Djokovic said he wore at least three.
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Only tennis apparel is allowed, although players occasionally mix in some jeans or dresses.
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Many top players, including Serena Williams and Federer, wear the same ensemble for each match in a tournament.

But they usually have enough copies to make it through.
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But nearly every player sends clothes to wash.
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The amount of laundry decreases as the tournament goes on because losing players pack and move on, maybe after having their laundry done one last time.
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On an average tournament night, Magic Rambo will wash 2,000 articles of player clothing.
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It is a lesson in logistical calisthenics.
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Each evening, sometime after 7, a Magic Rambo truck pulls up on Boulevard d’Auteuil. Romain Dagonet wheels in a couple of tall, canvas-covered bins of boxed clean laundry, weaving through fans toward the far end of Court Philippe Chatrier.
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In a basement corridor outside the players’ locker rooms, Dagonet changes the laundry.
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He shuttles the dirty clothes out the gate and down the street.
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A lift pulls them into the back of the truck, and Dagonet drives it to the plant about 45 minutes away.
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At Magic Rambo, workers open the bags and pin labels to each article of clothing.
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It’s very manual, Rit said. “But if we don’t handle it properly, we could be done.”
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The labels carry each player’s individual code, written in special ink.
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Like items are placed into their own net — one for socks, one for shirts, one for shorts, and so on.
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The bags are marked with the code, too.
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We never have a problem with socks getting mixed up,” Rit said.
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Bags mix with bags of other players.
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The socks go one way, shirts another.
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Mingling ensues.
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Sometimes players make special requests, perhaps wanting a lucky shirt returned early with a special delivery. Magic Rambo tries to accommodate.
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Some items need special attention, like shirts or wool socks that require dry cleaning.
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Some items need extra scrubbing — usually the socks, which collect the red dust of the clay courts.
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It’s all quite white and clean when you get it back, said Djokovic, sounding impressed.
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Everything is dried and pressed, and the process reverses itself. Clothes are folded, organized according to code, stacked onto small cardboard trays and wrapped in plastic.
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Into the bins they go for the return trip to Roland Garros on that night’s truck.
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Players can pick up their clothes up the next morning at 8.
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At some point in the tournament, all 256 men’s and women’s players except two will be sent packing, as the saying goes.
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But at least their clothes will be clean.
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John Branch - John Martin