by Bob Stockton
@BobStockton10
The French Tennis Federation made a surprising announcement that because of the global CoronaVirus pandemic it was moving the year’s second Grand Slam tournament from its traditional May-June slot to begin on September 20.
This makes the clay-court event in Paris being a week after the conclusion of the US Open, with the qualifying rounds for the event start the day after the US Open men’s singles final. The move from Roland Garros also makes its new dates clash with a number of WTA and ATP tournaments as well as the Laver Cup in Boston.
A statement on Lavercup.com read: “The tennis world learned today that the French Tennis Federation intends to schedule Roland Garros from September 20 – October 4, 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19. This announcement came as a surprise to us and our partners – Tennis Australia, the USTA and the ATP. It raises many questions and we are assessing the situation. At this time, we want our fans, sponsors, broadcasters, staff, volunteers, players and the great city of Boston to know that we intend to hold Laver Cup 2020 as currently scheduled.”
If the French Open and the Laver Cup both stick to their guns, it raises the possibility of players having to choose between the two events, while two big WTA events are also due to be held in that fortnight in Tokyo and Wuhan in China, ironically, the city where the virus originated.
Many players reacted with surprise and anger, particularly at not being consluted. Wrote Jamie Murray on Twitter: “Strong move by French Open/FFT to move to end of Sept. I thought the powers that be in tennis were supposed to be all about working together these days?”
Canadian Vasek Pospisil, an outspoken member of the ATP Player Council, said “This is such a difficult time. Everyone is being impacted by this catastrophe. Enhancing communication and working together to find solutions should be the priority. Not going rogue and making selfish/arrogant decisions to further impact the tour in a negative way.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Tennis Association, which organizes the US Open, put out a powerful statement, hinting that it too is looking at possibly delaying the start of its competition.
“The USTA is continuing to plan for the 2020 US Open and is not at this time implementing any changes to the schedule,” read the statement. “These are unprecedented times, though, and we are assessing all of our options, including the possibility of moving the tournament to a later date. At a time when the world is coming together, we recognise that such a decision should not be made unilaterally, and therefore the USTA would only do so in full consultation with the other grand slam tournaments, the WTA and ATP, the ITF (International Tennis Federation) and our partners, including the Laver Cup.”
