Delaying both the men’s and women’s finals by a day is among the possibilities being contemplated by the chiefs of the French Open as a result of poor weather.
Thursday’s play at the grand slam had to be cancelled due to persistent rain. Meaning both Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem will have to play their quarter-final matches tomorrow. A day before the men’s semi-finals. Meanwhile, some of the women’s players could have to play three days in a row if the women’s final still takes place on the Saturday.
“The issue for us is for the tournament to continue with enough time for players, both men and women, to recover and to have similar recovery time.” Tournament director Guy Forget said on Wednesday.
“We will see what happens for the Sunday and Saturday (final) matches.’
“At present we are studying all possibilities and all scenarios in order to progress in the tournament as best as possible.” He added.
The scheduling could get more complicated later this week with poor weather also forecasted for the Friday. Which is semi-finals day. Should that happen, officials may have no other choice than to extend the tournament by another day.
“If we have to move the final the following day, it’s something that could happen.” Forget admits. “We have done it with the men’s, if you remember, with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic (2012 final).” It’s not what we hope, but if we have no other choice, then that’s what we will do.”
“And with the women’s, exact same thing. Hopefully we’ll be able to conclude the women on time and we keep our fingers crossed that we might play through the drops, especially on Friday.”
Another idea being pondered is the use of the Simonne Mathieu arena, which has a capacity of 5000 people. The court was used this year for the first time at the French Open and it has proven to be a hit with both players and fans. It cost an estimated 360M euros to build.
“You are always afraid that some players may think it’s a lack of respect or we have diminished it. But we want to see players in the best possible condition and if we have to make the tough call to move players to a smaller court, it’s a possibility,” said Forget.
It is only the third time since 2000 that an entire day of play has been cancelled at the tournament due to rain. An issue that will no longer occur from 2020 when the Philippe Chatrier Court is fitted with a retractable roof. Making the French Open the last major to have one.
