What will the Roland-Garros tournament look like this year?

Rafael Nadal, September 25, 2020 at the Roland-Garros Central.

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• Relocated to the fall because of the Covid-19, Roland-Garros will not be the hoped-for tennis festival, after the last downward revision of the gauge of spectators allowed to enter.

• Some players questioned an overly strict health protocol after the exclusion of five athletes in qualifying.

• Always favorite when it comes to Roland, Nadal will have to deal with different weather conditions and the installation of a toi on the Philippe-Chatrier court which should be used a lot during the fortnight.

Guy Forget who speaks to us from a microphone which does not work, on a screen which will cut itself in the middle of the retransmission.

Everything ended up going back to normal, but you'll have to love tennis to appreciate this Roland-Garros like all the others before it.

The director of the Parisian tournament dreamed of a meeting which marks the return of the former life, with a large public, and players filled with fervor when it comes to discovering the much desired roof of the Philippe-Chatrier court.

It was undoubtedly a little presumptuous, and you have to get used to the idea, perhaps, of a gloomy final between Nadal and Djoko in a fortnight, without anyone in the gallery and with a din from the devil because of the rain falling on the roof.

Raise the roof 🙌 Welcome to a new chapter in #RolandGarros history ...

2020, the rebirth of a legendary court.

pic.twitter.com/3mWk8O13ZQ

- Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) September 24, 2020

An increasingly rickety gauge

If the 2020 edition will end up being held, it is not without a long series of waivers.

At the start of the summer, when euphoria spread over the country after a successful deconfinement, the French Tennis Federation (FFT) had counted on a gauge of 50% of the usual capacities, just to recoup a little in its expenses: the ticket office of the Parisian Grand Slam in the broad sense still brings in nearly 100 million per year to the FFT (via ticketing - boxes included - and derivatives), on an estimated turnover of 320 million euros.

Then at the start of the school year, the worrying curve of new positive Covid-19 cases led Jean-François Vilotte to lower his claims a little: 11,500 people per day on a site divided into three parts cut from each other.

"It will not move unless the Seine carries bodies by then", clumsily promised the DG of the Fed.

Mind-blowing #guyforget @rolandgarros who asks questions live on @ France2tv to get answers, because he doesn't have answers 5 days before the start of the tournament, not mind-blowing the answer, see with the organizers @JeanCASTEX 😡🤪 nobody knows nothing😡😡 pic.twitter.com/xkWs05cQ5A

- Pierre Yves Gas (@pierreyvesgas) September 24, 2020

He should not have, since the government wanted to tighten the bolts.

Tonnage reduced to 5,000 people two weeks ago, to end up with 1,000 lucky winners two days before the first round, in addition to the sum of various accredited persons for the event which greatly exceeds this figure in a normal year (media , transport, catering, hostesses, players, coaches, entourage…).

Suffice to say that Guy Forget wet his shirt for nothing all day Thursday, multiplying media interventions until the last moment to Jean Castex, guest on France 2 in the evening.

But the Prime Minister, not very aware of the file, did not give up, question of principle.

“Today, we are at 5,000 people, which is very little in a 12 hectare stadium, which represents 15 football fields.

In terms of sanitary conditions, we meet all the criteria, it seems to me that we are able to accommodate such a small amount of public while ensuring the safety of the greatest number, had nevertheless pleaded Forget.

For each additional restriction, a message is sent to say that it would be dangerous to come to the site.

That's far from being the case.

" He pursues :

The Tour de France arrived last week in Paris, and everything went well.

I think we need positive messages.

Life must resume.

"

So we understand the idea, which goes in the direction of the amendment tabled by LREM deputy Sacha Houillé, aiming to adapt the gauges to the size of the stadiums or sites concerned.

Except that before getting there, we will have to deal with an army of spectators reassembled like Swiss cuckoos.

Many reproach the organizer for having sold them a place that he would not be able to procure for them, in view of the various setbacks on the height of the gauge.

Good luck to the Fédé to satisfy the discontented.

A health protocol that is already talking about

"Without commenting on what may have happened at the US Open, we want to prevent people from having the feeling of any uncertainty."

This is how Jean-François Vilotte presented the protocol concocted by the organization of Roland-Garros in collaboration with the health authorities.

Either players, as well as their entourage (limited to two people), obliged to stay in one of the two hotels made available by the tournament, and forced to undergo several PCR tests depending on their journey during the tournament, like all accredited elsewhere, including journalists.

No contact with the meager public or with the followers, except through video press conferences, and an on-site presence reduced to a minimum: on days without a match, the players will have to go to train at Jean-Bouin, a tennis club located next to the nearby Parc des Princes.

Objective, then?

Avoid the gigantic mess of the US Open following the positive control of Benoît Paire and contact cases first authorized to play for some, before being excluded from the tournament.

It is not a clear success so far.

Five players had to repackage their rackets in qualifying because of a positive test.

This is much more than in New York, where the players carried out their own sampling, which explains why: who would stick a cotton swab deep enough in their own nose, frankly?

Among the cuckolds in history, the Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, asked to withdraw because his coach was among those tested positive and the two shared a hotel room.

However, the former 23rd in the world did not plan to stop there.

We are talking about a complaint against the organization, since Petar Popovic, the coach in question, believes he has been wronged.

“As I had the coronavirus two and a half months ago, there are antibodies that can sometimes give incorrect results.

I've had twenty or twenty-five, tests, over the last thirty-five days, between the United States, Italy and even here in Paris, where we've been for six days.

All the time negative, lamented the coach in 

 Damir does not have the right to defend his chances.

They disqualified him like that.

"

It is a huge scandal.

I think that if Rafa [Nadal] was in our case he would be entitled to a second or third test to check, ”says Petar Popovic.

# Dzumhur's coach #Popovic tests negative for # covid19 in Serbia one day after positive test at #RolandGarros.

#falsepositive # RG20 pic.twitter.com/izHPQ4crLg

- tennistango (@ElTangoDeTenis) September 22, 2020

Unfortunately, the protocol in Paris does not provide for a second chance, but only a second analysis of the initial sample using another method, which rarely changes the verdict.

“Each tournament must adapt to the sanitary instructions of its own government, justifies Guy Forget.

The French protocol is very strict, it is true, but we are obliged to comply with it.

It is always difficult to tell a player in good health, most of the time asymptomatic, that he must leave the Roland Garros because of a positive test.

Unfortunately, there are players who have preferred to share a room with their coach to save a few euros when we have made a gesture on this by significantly increasing the allocation for qualifying.

You can't take any risk, if only for the safety of other players.

"

A certain fed up nonetheless begins to invade the players barely two months after the resumption: many consider the protocols stressful and unfair.

Arriving in Paris, Alizé Cornet recounted "being extremely distressed and not having slept all night" while awaiting the result of her Covid test, while Benoît Paire no longer understood anything after a new positive screening in Germany in

.

“Everyone is tired, nervous, worried.

The general feeling is very mixed on the recovery.

The empty galleries, the tests, the positives, the false negatives.

[…] I have only one hurry, it is that the season stops, that it starts again on a normal circuit or whereas that does not resume ».

He's not the only one.

More and more players, especially the French, would consider ending their season after Roland Garros hoping to move on.

A sporting hierarchy less clear than usual ... except for the French

Even putting the Covid aside, this 2020 edition breaks with a lot of spring traditions.

It will have to do with a capricious weather and a night that falls much earlier than the beginning of June, although the postponement of the tournament at least allowed the lighting work to be completed on almost all the courts.

Above all, the famous roof so long awaited on rainy days is finally operational.

It won't be a luxury, given the bad weather that awaits us at least the first week, but the indoor clay does not really look like the idea we have of Roland-Garros and can redistribute the cards a little. .

It has happened, in Davis Cup, that we see big hitters create huge surprises including against baby earthlings thanks to the sudden acceleration of the indoor surface.

What else ?

The states of form are still very disparate between those who resumed in New York and those who preferred to train on clay all summer, thinking specifically of Roland.

We know, for example, that Nadal needs to ramp up throughout the spring to destroy everyone in Paris.

There, the Spaniard had only one tournament to prepare, and he lost in the semifinals against Schwartzmann, one of the few players who rots his life on earth.

In short, there may be more room than usual to prevent the world No. 2 from slamming his 57th Roland-Garros in a row, Novak Djokovic wants to believe.

“The record he has at Roland, the story of his results, you just can't put anyone in front of him.

But definitely Diego has shown that Nadal can be beaten on clay.

The conditions on which they played: heavy clay, not a lot of rebound, humidity, night session, we are going to have that too in Paris.

I know he likes the high rebound, he likes hot, fast conditions where he can use his spin a lot, so yeah we'll see, it's going to be interesting.

Even though he is the favorite, there are players who can win against him there ”.

We think of the Serbian, who must be damn revenge after his improbable disqualification at the US Open, but also of Dominic Thiem, winner of his first Grand Slam at Flushing Meadow.

Six months earlier, we would have even let ourselves be pushed from the pass by quoting Monfils, but the French number one lost his two resumption matches and admitted a form of helplessness: "I am struggling to find good feelings on the court, this is not easy to accept, but I will continue to fight ”.

Hi everyone, I wanted to give you some news since my return to competition in Rome and then Hamburg.

I am struggling to find a good feeling on the court and it is not easy to accept.

Part1 / 2 pic.twitter.com/fXYXwMsQ5r

- Gael Monfils (@Gael_Monfils) September 22, 2020

This is not always a bad sign for the Parisian before Roland, but we would have preferred to have a solid plan B.

However, it is Waterloo behind La Monf ':

• Tsonga, still injured in the pelvis, may have played the last game of his career at the Australian Open

• Pair is picking up physically, worn out by their forced fortnight in the United States and mentally washed out

• Gasquet and Simon no longer have the level of their great years and will already try to pass a lap given their dantesque draw

• Garcia is still on AC for the girls, while Mladenovic had to forfeit Strasbourg because she did not feel physically ready either because of her American mishap.

It does not make many people at the gate to make us vibrate until the second week.

Among the boys, we will try despite everything to get excited about Ugo Humbert, if he has time to recover from his good journey in Hamburg, and Corentin Moutet, if he manages to confuse the guy opposite like a Santoro of the great era.

Among girls?

We will always have Alizé Cornet, 16 Roland Garros on the clock, and the desire to finally reach the quarter-finals at home.

Top hearts.

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