
It may be the only Grand Slam tournament without a roof on a stadium court at present, but Roland Garros is soon set to change that.
The tournament announced plans for a roof to be built over its premier court, Philippe Chatrier way back in 2009, but due to slow progression on talks and a delay whilst other sites were considered, the project was put on hold.
Amended plans were put in place in 2013, and the roof over Philippe Chatrier is now expected to be completed by 2020. Roland Garros is played on clay. The surface is more adaptable to inclement weather conditions than its hard or grass counterparts, but can still only take a certain amount of saturation.
Calls for a roof over the stadium court accelerated after the 2016 tournament was particularly badly hit by rainfall, with a full day’s play cancelled for the first time in 16 years. Players including Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Garbine Muguruza also backed a roof.
Today, Roland Garros’ social media page shared a artist’s impression video of what construction work on the project would look like.
Best of 2017 : renovation of #RolandGarros. See the coming transformation of Philippe-Chatrier court and its retractable roof.
Modernisation de #RolandGarros, découvrez le futur Central Philippe-Chatrier et son toit rétractable. pic.twitter.com/IMbQhoKtNF— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) December 12, 2017
The project is a complicated one, as the video shows the majority of two stands being completely torn down so engineers can access the foundations of the court for the purpose of building the new structure. Philippe Chatrier is amongst the biggest tennis venues in the world, and can hold up to 15,000 spectators.