French Open Announces Scheduling Changes For 2020

At French Open 2019 quarterfinals, all the matches were suspended and re-scheduled due to rain and storm. Later, the semifinals were carried out under hurricane-like conditions. WTA semifinal matches did not take place on Court Philippe-Chatrier and their matches were held on outer courts due to haphazard scheduling.

To avoid such scenarios the French Open 2020 tournament will have a retractable roof over the Court Philippe-Chatrier. The roof over that stadium is an 11-pane retractable one. For the very first time in the history of the tournament, it will host matches under floodlights and a roof.

Changes in the schedule

The incoming of the roof has also led to changes in their schedule. According to the reports, all the singles quarterfinals matches (ATP and WTA) will take place over on Court Philippe-Chatrier. There will be two sessions in a day for singles quarterfinals. The first one will be starting at noon and the other one at 5 pm. Each session will comprise of two matches (one ATP and one WTA). Also, the last 14 singles matches of the tournament will take place on the central court.

The latest changes will allow the tournament to schedule night sessions and the roof will provide ideal playing conditions. The floodlights will be fitted on Court Philippe-Chatrier, Court Suzane Lenglen, Simonne Mathieu and Court No. 14 of Roland Garros stadium.

Roger Federer’s statement on the absence of the roof

During French Open 2019, Roger Federer highlighted the tournament not having a roof which led to poor scheduling. “And the problem is we don’t have a roof here, and I just think maybe not enough rounds are being played in the first week somehow. Maybe they need to double up on the first weekend or something. At least you would have liked it to be maybe at 6:00 p.m. tonight, but then you don’t have a roof and you don’t know the weather,” the Swiss mentioned.

Read More – Roger Federer on French Open -“It’s Very Important to Have This Roof”

Another big change at the French Open

This year the French Open will be using Wilson tennis balls. In 2019 the French major called off their eight-year-old alliance with the tennis goods manufacturers, Babolat and then signed a deal with Wilson. Wilson will be the official tennis balls supplier for the next five years at the French Open tournament.

Read More – French Open Signs a Deal With New Ball Sponsors