Gilles Simon and French tennis chief share their opinions on the French Open postponement

 

It was recently revealed that the French Open will be postponed to a later date for the second time in the last two years. Speaking on the matter French tennis star, Gilles Simon said that if needed the French Open organizers won’t care much about the other tournaments.

The clay-court event will be delayed by a week due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was earlier stated that the Roland Garros will be started on May 23 but now after postponing the event, it is decided that the action will begin on May 30.

”We are in talks with The French Federation to see if the dates have to change in order to tune them with a global schedule for sports. As we speak, high-level sports are safeguarded, but we do everything to avoid clusters in sports organizations,” French Minister of Sports, Roxana Maracineanu told Tennis Majors.

Speaking about the postponement of the French Open the former World No. 6 said, ”Maybe Wimbledon won’t be happy. In a crisis situation, everyone does what they want to do. The Australian Open had moved its date to February. It is the law of the strongest and nobody said anything.

The players are not asked for advice. A shift of one week destroys the Stuttgart Open and the ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Libéma Open),” Simon highlighted the events that will be hampered due to the postponement of the French Open.

French tennis chief Gilles Moretton also speaks about the issues faced by the organizers and how the pandemic has dampened their mood to host such a big event. Although he is not thinking about total cancellation and also adds how it has to be behind closed doors and then gradually can welcome a few fans as the tournament goes on.

“At the moment, we are on track, the tournament is on the scheduled date (May 23-June 6),” French tennis chief Gilles Moretton told AFP last week.

“But if we are told a general confinement for two months, we will necessarily have to take measures — the worst being the outright cancellation, but I dare not imagine that. We are studying a lot of options for Roland Garros 2021. There is the total range … or almost total because I dare not imagine a 100% crowd level.”

“But that can start from behind closed doors to a level that will not be 100%. All the options with us are ready. We meet all the players regularly and we wait to see how things will turn out,” he added.

Meanwhile, Gilles Simon is currently in action at the ATP Sardinia Open in Cagliari. He scripted a great comeback to win his first-round fixture from being a set down against Italy’s Stefano Travaglia.