French Open players often make schedule requests. No one wanted to miss the Champions League final

PARIS (AP) — The French Open isn't the only sports event in Europe drawing attention from tennis players: The Champions League final will decide the continent's best soccer club, and one of the two teams involved Saturday night is Paris Saint-Germain, whose stadium is a couple of blocks from Roland-Garros.

Count Novak Djokovic among those rooting for PSG against Italy's Inter Milan, and he hoped to be able to tune in on TV to watch the big clash that'll be held in Munich, Germany. So Djokovic made that preference known to the people in charge of arranging the program at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament he's won three times — a common practice, especially among the sport's elite.

They often ask to be scheduled at a certain time. Or to avoid a certain time.

“I will definitely watch it if I’m not playing (in the) night session. Yeah, that will be nice,” Djokovic said with a big smile. “FYI, Roland-Garros schedule.”

Hint, hint. Except his plea went unheeded: When Saturday's order of play was released Friday, 24-time major champion Djokovic's third-round match against Filip Misolic was the one picked for under the lights at Court Philippe-Chatrier due to begin at 8:15 p.m. local time, 45 minutes before Inter Milan vs. PSG starts.

Others who begged off from competing at that hour got their wish. Although one, Arthur Fils, the 14th-seeded Frenchman who grew up near Paris and is a big PSG fan, wound up pulling out of the tournament because of a stress fracture in his back after being placed in an afternoon match against No. 17 Andrey Rublev.

“We have many requests from players” every day, tournament director Amélie Mauresmo said. “There’s no fixed rule. We try to accommodate everyone as much as possible. That includes requests from players, broadcasters and spectators. ... It’s a real puzzle, I won’t lie.”

Coco Gauff said she doesn't often ask for a certain time slot, but when she does, it's usually related to competing in singles and doubles on the same day (the American won the French Open doubles title last year but isn't playing doubles this time).

The 2023 U.S. Open champion, who is currently No. 2 in singles, has noticed that events tend to listen more to elite players than others.

“If you’re ranked a little bit higher, they’ll hear more of your input, for sure,” Gauff said. “To be honest, I think it’s rightfully deserved. I feel like if you do well on tour, win so many tournaments, you should have a little bit more priority when it comes to that.”

Except even the very best of the best don't always have success with these sorts of things.

Madison Keys, who was the U.S. Open runner-up in 2017 and won the Australian Open in January, knows what it's like to be ignored.

“Sometimes the request goes (in), they write it down, and they say, ‘OK,’” but then don't do anything about it, Keys said.

“I really think that it’s just kind of up to what the tournament wants, what TV wants, things like that,” she added. “Sometimes you kind of get what you ask for. And other times, you get the complete opposite.”

Just ask Djokovic.

“Whatever they schedule me, I have to accept,” he said earlier this season. “I think I earned my right to ... (communicate) with the tournament management, where I can express what I would like, depending on a given day, depending on the opponent.”

Associated Press writer Tom Nouvian contributed to this report.

Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo, left, PSG soccer player Ousmane Dembele and French Tennis Federation president Gilles Moretton pose during the draw of French Open tennis tournament, Thursday, May 22, 2025 at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Coco Gauff of the U.S. celebrates winning against Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic following their second round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Thursday, May 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

France's Arthur Fils celebrates beating Spain's Jaume Munar after their second round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Thursday, May 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Serbia's Novak Djokovic reacts as he plays France's Corentin Moutet during their second round match of the French Tennis Open, at the Roland-Garros stadium, in Paris, Thursday, May 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.

The U.S. Coast Guard boarded the tanker, named Veronica, early Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media. The ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean,” she said.

U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”

Several U.S. government social media accounts posted brief videos that appeared to show various parts of the ship’s capture. Black-and-white footage showed at least four helicopters approaching the ship before hovering over the deck while armed troops dropped down by rope. At least nine people could be seen on the deck of the ship.

The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.

The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, the ship was partially filled with crude.

Days later, the Veronica became one of at least 16 tankers that left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine that U.S. forces have set up to block sanctioned ships, according to Samir Madani, the co-founder of TankerTrackers.com. He said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document the ship movements.

The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.

According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for being associated with a Russian company moving cargoes of illicit oil.

As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”

Speaking to reporters at the White House later Thursday, Noem declined to say how many sanctioned oil tankers the U.S. is tracking or whether the government is keeping tabs on freighters beyond the Caribbean Sea.

“I can’t speak to the specifics of the operation, although we are watching the entire shadow fleet and how they’re moving,” she told reporters.

But other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.

Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.

Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro’s capture and the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, not the Galileo.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)