PARIS: French taxi drivers will next week step up protest actions, including paralysing access to Paris airports and the French Open tennis championship, in an increasingly acrimonious standoff with the government, their main federation said on Saturday.

French taxi drivers have over the last week blocked roads at points across the country in a row with the government about payments for transporting patients which for many cab drivers form a major part of their businesses.

Meanwhile grievances against ride-hailing services such as Uber and Bolt have been aired again, with taxi drivers seeing them as a poorly-regulated threat to their livelihood.

Sector representatives are due to attend a crunch meeting at the ministry of transport from 1500 GMT Saturday which, in a sign of the seriousness of the situation, will also be attended by Prime Minister Francois Bayrou.

Their chief demand is the wholesale withdrawal of new rules coming into force in October on the transportation of patients to harmonize prices nationwide, which the taxi drivers say will severely erode their income.

“We are calling for the immediate withdrawal of this agreement and for a return to the negotiating table,” Emmanuelle Cordier, president of the National Taxi Federation (FNDT), told France Info radio.

“From Monday,” in the absence of progress, Paris international airports, Charles de Gaulle and Orly, “will be blocked by taxis, and we will also take care of Roland Garros,” said Cordier, referring to the two-week French Open tennis which starts on Sunday.

In such actions, taxi drivers usually park their vehicles to block car access, requiring people to walk long distances.

But the government has no plans to drop the new rules which it said are needed, after health transport expenditure reached 6.74 billion euros in 2024, including 3.07 billion for licensed taxis.

“We will have to continue to show our discontent peacefully, but with increasingly tough blockades,” said Noel, a 60-year-old driver from Lyon, who has spent 21 years as a taxi driver.

BERLIN: If there is one tennis player who knows how to beat the odds when they are stacked against him, it is 24-times Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic.
The 38-year-old Serbian’s bid for a fourth French Open crown looks more unlikely than in many years, with Djokovic struggling for form since his run to the Australian Open semifinals back in January before retiring injured.
Since then Djokovic, who has 99 tour titles to his name and is in the twilight of a glorious career, has reached only one final and has not lifted a trophy this year.
After two early losses in Monte Carlo and Madrid, it was clear that Djokovic’s attempt to claim a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam could be his hardest yet.
“(It is) kind of a new reality for me, I have to say, trying to win a match or two, not really thinking about getting far in the tournament,” Djokovic said after his early Madrid exit.
He was expected to jumpstart his clay campaign in Rome before returning to Paris, where he won Olympic gold last year, but he skipped the Italian Open without giving a reason.
Instead he picked up a surprise wild card for the Geneva Open this week, in what looks like a last-ditch attempt to get some more matches on clay under his belt before Paris.
News of the wild card came as Djokovic split with his coach Andy Murray after only a few months working together.
Djokovic appointed fellow former world number one Murray ahead of this year’s Australian Open and the Serb said at the Qatar Open in February that he would continue working with the Scot for an indefinite period.
That time, however, ended abruptly last week with the Djokovic-Murray partnership yielding no titles and one losing final in Miami.
Their partnership is now officially over as Djokovic heads toward the French Open in a cloud of uncertainty over his form and future.
The world number six has struggled to assert his dominance after winning three out of the four Grand Slams in 2023.
There is even more uncertainty over his chances of reaching the last major goal in his illustrious career: adding that elusive 25th record Grand Slam to his collection to move past Margaret Court on the all-time winners’ list.