Paris (AFP)
The Roland-Garros tournament, postponed to the fall due to the pandemic, will welcome a maximum of 11,500 spectators per day, instead of the 20,000 it aspired to, announced the French Tennis Federation on Monday.
In addition, the players must imperatively stay in two hotels chosen by the organizers.
The complex which will host the tournament from September 27 to October 11, will be divided into "three sub-areas independent from each other and autonomous from the point of view of reception of the public", to respect the gauge of 5,000 spectators per site set by the authorities, said the director general of the FFT Jean-François Vilotte.
The 12-hectare stadium will be divided into three sectors: one around court Suzanne-Lenglen, another around court Philippe-Chatrier and a final around court Simone-Mathieu.
The Philippe-Chatrier and Suzanne-Lenglen courts will respectively accommodate 5,000 spectators maximum, and the Simonne-Mathieu court 1,500 spectators.
There will be no public during the qualifications, nor tickets dedicated only to side courses during the tournament.
In addition, "two hotels near Roland-Garros have been reserved (...) almost exclusively. All and all will be accommodated there, without exception", explained Guy Forget.
"We are not thinking in terms of an airtight sanitary bubble, it is a fantasy," said Jean-François Vilotte, however.
Players will be tested "upon their arrival and will receive their accreditation as soon as the first negative test is returned. A second test will be carried out within 72 hours, then another at D + 5, and another at D + 5 as long as they will be in the tournament, ”Forget said.
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