Paris (AFP)

The Roland-Garros tournament, which was to take place from May 23 to June 6, has been postponed for a week, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) announced on Thursday in a statement.

The main draw of the tournament will now take place from May 30 to June 13 after the qualifiers played from May 24 to 28.

The objective, "for this 2021 edition of Roland-Garros, is to maximize the chances that the tournament can be played in front of the greatest possible number of spectators, both for the players and for the whole community of enthusiasts, while guaranteeing everyone's health security, ”explained the FFT, organizer of the event.

"In view of this dual objective, each week can prove to be precious," she insisted.

The 2020 edition of Roland Garros had been postponed from May to September, due to the pandemic, a decision of the FFT in March 2020 which had taken everyone by surprise.

This time, the one week rescheduling of the Grand Slam tournament played on clay will have a limited impact on the schedule, even if there will only be two weeks between the Roland Garros final and the start of Wimbledon (28 June-July 11).

"I am delighted that the consultation with the public authorities, the various international tennis bodies, our partners and broadcasters and the work in progress with the WTA and ATP has made it possible to postpone the 2021 edition of the tournament by one week. Roland-Garros tournament, and I thank them for it ", explained the president of the FFT, Gilles Moretton, quoted in the press release.

This decision received "the full support" of the Grand Slam Board, the body that brings together the four Grand Slam tournaments.

World No.3 Rafael Nadal, undisputed king of clay, will once again be the big favorite in a tournament he has already won thirteen times.

The 2021 edition could see the return of the Swiss Roger Federer on the Parisian clay where he has appeared only once since 2015, in 2019, year when he reached the semi-finals before being stopped by his great rival Rafael Nadal.

© 2021 AFP