Roland Garros completes revamp ahead of French Open, Paris Games
PARIS — Roland Garros has completed a revamp ahead of the French Open as the Parisian ground gears up to host the tennis tournament and boxing semi-finals and finals at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The Suzanne Lenglen will be the second covered court at Roland Garros, four years after the Philippe Chatrier, when the claycourt Grand Slam starts on May 26.
“The Lenglen roof will enable us, in the event of bad weather, to shelter 25,000 people (on the two main courts), to have two matches instead of one being played, and will give us a little more flexibility in our programming,” tournament director Amelie Mauresmo told a press conference on Thursday.
The roof closes in around 15 minutes, according to the organizers, who also announced the renovation of the players’ restaurant and changing rooms, with more space available.
“It was really a wish of the tournament, of the federation, beyond the Games, to be able to offer new spaces to the players,” Mauresmo said.
“It will benefit the Olympic and Paralympic Games, but it’s independent of the event,” French federation president Gilles Moretton said.
The four-time major champion from Northern Ireland believes he can be helpful after stalled negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia-financed LIV Golf league after a “framework agreement” for a merger announced last June.
“I don’t think there’s been much progress made in the last eight months, and I was hopeful that there would be,” he said. “I think I could be helpful to the process. But only if people want me involved, I guess.”
He said he talked with Webb Simpson, who discussed potentially coming off the board.
“I said, look, if it was something that other people wanted, I would gladly take that seat, and that was the conversation that we had,” McIlroy said. “But yeah, I think that’s the whole reason. I feel like I can be helpful. I feel like I care a lot, and I have some pretty good experience and good connections within the game and sort of around the wider sort of ecosystem and everything that’s going on.
“But at the end of the day, it’s not quite up to me to just come back on the board. There’s a process that has to be followed,” he continued. “But I’m willing to do it if that’s what people want, I guess.”