Former French Open and Davis Cup champion Adriano Panatta spoke to Italian newpaper La Stampa about the tournament schedule in the next months following the long break of the Tour due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. Panatta said that tennis institutions must protect the most traditional tournaments like Roland Garros and the Rome Internazionali d’Italia.
“I make an appeal to Andrea Gaudenzi, the President of the ATP. As an Italian, I don’t know ask him to favour Europe, but tennis institutions have a duty to safeguard tournaments that have more tradition. Playing in Arizona is not more important than playing in Rome or Paris. Roland Garros was postponed until September without asking anyone. I agree with them. They have a history of more than 100 years. Rome must be rescheduled. October is fine, even after Roland Garros. Federer, who organizes the Laver Cup on the same date sas Roland Garros, did not take well. Federer i salso nice to me, but he will make a reason for it. We can’t go after him”.
Panatta talked about tennis at the time when he was a player.
“I did not care about the Australian Open. I wanted to play well in Rome, Monte-Carlo, where unfortunately I never succedeed, Paris and the Davis Cup. I was going to Wimbledon because I had to go there”.
