If all goes well, we could therefore be at least 5,000 in the public of Roland-Garros at the end of September.

(illustration) -

Michel Euler / AP / SIPA

No bubble as airtight as at the US Open for the players, but a gauge ultimately smaller than expected for the spectators.

Two weeks before the start of qualifying, the FFT staff (finally) clarified the exact health protocol that will govern the holding of the Roland-Garros tournament in the fall, for the first time in its history.

20 minutes summarizes what to remember

11,500 spectators per day maximum

If the Federation has for a time cherished the wish to welcome up to 25,000 spectators, or 60% of its usual tonnage, "We had to take into account the evolution of the health situation in Ile de France", explained Jean- François Villotte, the Director General of the Federation.

"The decision we have taken is to divide the 12 hectares of the site into three sub-areas which are independent of each other and autonomous from the point of view of welcoming the public".

Concretely, this means 5,000 spectators for the Central and certain courts, 5,000 also for the Suzanne-Lenglen and the rest of the courts, and finally 1,500 for the court Simone Mathieu.

Gymnastics which will force the Federation to reimburse a certain number of spectators who have already bought their tickets.

The lucky ones who will finally be able to attend the matches will obviously have to wear the mask at all times, including in the stands.

The FFT specifies the organizational conditions of Roland-Garros 2020 and invites all tennis enthusiasts to meet on September 21: #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/Fzq4N0xAfR

- Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) September 7, 2020

Players tested several times and required to come to the hotel

This time, no exception for Novak Djokovic as in New York.

Like Rafael Nadal who confirmed his participation in Guy Forget, the Serbian will have to stay in one of the two hotels reserved by the organization for the sole use of the players.

Be careful though, the two hotels have not been booked in their entirety (impossible according to the CEO of the FFT), but independent circuits have been planned to allow players to evolve in isolation.

In the event of a positive PCR, all contact cases who did not respect the barrier gestures will also be excluded immediately and must respect strict isolation.

No penalty, therefore, for those who like card games late at night with a mask on their nose.

"Without commenting on what may have happened at the US Open, we want to prevent people from feeling any uncertainty," says Jean-François Villotte.

We will not swear that everything is clear, but it should be less folkloric (and unfair) than New York.

What else ?

Players will not have access to the Roland-Garros stadium on the days they are not playing, and will only be given their accreditation when the first PCR test comes back negative.

This biological monitoring will be supplemented by three other tests every 5 days, for those who go to the end.

Unlike the US Open, Guy Forget, the tournament director "has chosen an almost complete program with 750 games on the program", including juniors and wheelchair tennis.

Prize money reviewed in depth.

Reduction of the gap between winner and loser 1T


38 million MP


Big effort because “the products will fall by 50%” says Guy Forget.

- Eric Salliot (@ericsalliot) September 7, 2020

A decreasing but fairer prize-money

If Guy Forget had to juggle entire nights to present a prize-money almost as important as the past years, that is to say 38 million euros to share, the FFT intends to distinguish itself by a better distribution of the profits between the less well classified and the top players.

“The Pyramid has been thoroughly reviewed to show our solidarity with the players in this particular year.

30% increase in the first round staffing, and 27% for qualifying.

The ratio between the winner and the loser of the first round will be 27 against 50 last year ”.

Like last year, some games may end late at night in order to adapt in particular to the change of season, which may offer us a much shorter light in October.

The installation of lighting on 12 courts instead of the four initially planned will be very useful to continue the matches until their conclusion, and the brand new roof of the Central will certainly have the opportunity to be used a few times.

But with a maximum of 5,000 people in the stands, including the final. 

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  • Novak Djokovic

  • Rafael Nadal

  • Coronavirus

  • Roland Garros

  • Tennis

  • Sport