PARIS – Suspending the French Open to September could have prevented the Grand Slam from falling sufferer to the coronavirus pandemic however the organisers now discover themselves remoted and friendless because the tennis world involves phrases with the shock transfer.
The French Tennis Federation (FTT), in an announcement that got here out of the blue on Tuesday, stated they had been transferring the event to Sept 20-Oct four from its Could begin due to the coronavirus outbreak. Whereas gamers raged on the lack of communication previous to the choice, the Worldwide Tennis Federation, the lads’s ATP Tour and the ladies’s WTA Tour have shunned commenting straight on the change. Nonetheless, when the ATP and WTA issued a joint assertion on Wednesday calling on all stakeholders in tennis to work collectively, they namechecked the ITF and the organisers of three of the 4 Grand Slams — however not the FFT. “Now is not a time to act unilaterally, but in unison,” the assertion learn.
The French Open will now conflict with ATP tournaments in Metz, St. Petersburg, Chengdu, Sofia and Zhuhai and WTA occasions in Guangzhou, Seoul, Tokyo and Wuhan. Organisers of the Korea Open, the China Open and the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo had been all left at the hours of darkness about the way forward for their tournaments in a calendar already full to capability. Chengdu Open organisers echoed the emotions of many once they stated they had been dissatisfied by the shortage of communication from the FFT.
“As everyone already knows RG’s announcement caught everyone by surprise, including players, ITF and other Grand Slams,” event director Luiz Carvalho instructed Reuters in an announcement. “In a moment when the world is coming together to overcome a global health issue it is quite disappointing to find out through the social media such a decision has been made without anyone’s consent. “We will discuss with the ATP what are our options in the coming weeks.”
Whereas the tournaments will take their lead from the ATP and WTA, the choice to reschedule the French Open to the identical slot because the Laver Cup dangers alienating not solely the exhibition occasion’s co-creator Roger Federer but additionally the organisers of two different Grand Slams. Tennis Australia, the house owners of the opening Grand Slam of the yr at Melbourne Park, and U.S. Open organisers United States Tennis Affiliation are stakeholders within the Laver Cup, which is a part of the ATP Tour calendar.
In an uncompromising assertion on Wednesday, Laver Cup organisers expressed shock on the determination and stated the exhibition occasion would go forward in September as deliberate. Federer performed the French Open in 2019 after a three-year absence but when different high names joined him in skipping the journey to Paris it might take among the gloss off Roland Garros. In Wednesday’s assertion, the ATP and WTA stated they had been extending the suspension of their excursions till June 7, wiping out the whole claycourt season and leaving gamers to rely the monetary value of the tennis shutdown.
The excursions additionally introduced that gamers will maintain onto their present rankings spots till additional discover, elevating questions in regards to the Tokyo Olympics qualification course of. The June eight rankings had been speculated to be the cutoff to find out spots for the Tokyo Video games however it was unclear if that course of will likely be modified.
