French Open delayed by a week in hope of maximizing attendance

Agencies | Paris

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The French Open has been delayed by a week to start May 30 in a bid to ensure "the tournament is played in front of the largest possible number of fans while guaranteeing health and safety," amid the coronavirus pandemic, organizers said Thursday.

France wants to resume attendance at cultural and sporting events from mid-May onwards, subject to the improvement of the health situation, and the national federation FFT said it worked with the government while "taking the international sporting calendar into account" in making the adjustment.

The finals of the clay-court grand slam are now June 12/13, encroaching into the already short grass court season, said dpa.

Wimbledon will begin in London just two weeks later from June 28 as planned.

Ugo Valensi, executive director of the grand slam board, however, said the postponed "in order to enhance the likelihood of the tournament taking place successfully," was "fully supported."

Wimbledon posted an online statement saying it and the other grand slam events backed the switch and "to avoid further impact on the rest of the calendar, the grass-court season will be reduced by one week."

The ATP and WTA tours also issued a joint statement saying the sport had "required an agile approach to the calendar over the past 12 months in order to manage the challenges of the pandemic, and this continues to be the case."

Various lower-ranking tournaments scheduled to run in the week beginning June 7 now face being cancelled or being contested without top stars.

The 2020 French Open was delayed from its usual spring slot to September-October because of the pandemic and played in front of crowds limited to 1,000 per day.