Paris (AFP)
The reduction, from 5,000 to 1,000, in the number of spectators allowed per day at Roland Garros, imposed by the government due to the upsurge of Covid-19 in Paris, is a "blow" for the tournament, reacted his director Guy Forget Friday on France Info.
"We have taken note of the government's decision, we are ready, all the players are there, but it is true that it is a blow for the tournament," he said on the radio.
The Parisian Grand Slam, which had already had to revise its tonnage twice down since the beginning of September, from 20,000 spectators per day to 11,500 and then 5,000, begins Sunday after a week of qualifying without spectators.
This new reduction in public reception capacity, at the last minute, follows new assembly restrictions announced Wednesday by the government for areas on heightened alert in the face of the resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic in France.
Thursday afternoon, Forget had always declared "to hope to have 5,000 spectators".
"We are able to accommodate this population, as small as it is, for the moment 5,000 people, on a 12 hectare stadium," he stressed, insisting on the surface area of the site and the outdoor courts. to limit the spread of Covid-19.
But Prime Minister Jean Castex, guest on the evening of the program "Vous ont la parole" on France 2, cut short his hopes by declaring in the evening: "We will apply at Roland-Garros the same rules as elsewhere . "
This gauge does not concern accredited people (players, coaches, ball collectors, referees, journalists, organizers ...), "subject to a specific protocol", Matignon told AFP at the end of the evening.
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