Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
FRENCH WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY
A closed doors Open in September is best chance of action in Paris
THE French Open is ready to play behind closed doors.
The claycourt Grand Slam has been moved back from its usual slot this month to September.
But the French government have cancelled the football season and banned all professional sport in front of crowds until at least September.
French tennis chief Bernard Guidicelli said: “We haven’t ruled out any option. Roland Garros is first and foremost a story of matches and players.
“There is the tournament taking place in the stadium and the tournament on TV screens.
“Millions of viewers around the world are waiting.
“Organising it behind closed doors would allow part of the business model – television rights – to go ahead.
“This cannot be overlooked.” The French Tennis Federation announced last week it is to refund all 500,000 tickets bought for the original date rather than transfer them.
ATP Tour chief Andrea Gaudenzi is also refusing to give up on 2020 just yet.
Wimbledon has been cancelled while the status of the US Open, scheduled to take place in late August, is still unclear.
Many people, including 19-times Grand Slam winner Rafa Nadal, have voiced doubts about whether the sport can return in 2020 because players would need to travel around the world to compete in tournaments.
Gaudenzi said: “It would be unwise to call it quits now.
“Nobody knows what will happen, we want to keep an optimistic overview.
“Obviously, there could be a subset of options, which is playing with closed gates or deciding how to deal with travel restrictions. But we have not made these decisions so far because they are all hypothetical scenarios.”
The Tour is working on a time frame of six to eight weeks to decide on tournaments.
“We have set a deadline of May 15 for the tournaments in July, post Wimbledon,” said the Italian, who reached a career-high singles ranking of 18. “And June 1 for the tournaments in August. “So we are, in principle, dealing with it on I would say six to eight weeks in advance in time for making a decision. Longer than that, it would be foolish to make decisions, in my opinion.”
Meanwhile, Matteo Berrettini is the latest tennis star to oppose donating money to lower-ranked players.
Dominic Thiem has already spoken out against world No.1 Novak Djokovic’s (inset) plan for those at the top of the game to give to a fund to support players outside the world’s top 250 during the pandemic.
Now Italian world No.8 Berrettini said: “I prefer to help more complex situations, like a hospital, a family in difficulty, rather than a tennis player.”