The French Open will allow a limited number of spectators at Roland Garros in Paris when it opened at the end of September, announced the French Tennis Federation on Monday, despite an increase in cases across the country reaching new heights on Friday.
After the qualifying rounds, to be played behind closed doors, two stadium resort sites, Philippe-Chatrier and Suzanne-Lenglen, will receive 5000 spectators, while Simonne-Mathieu’s smaller site will house 1500.
A face mask will be required for all people over the age of 11, and all other seats between teams will remain empty.
Players, their entourage and tournament staff will be evaluated before the tournament, and players must also stay at one of the two express hotels.
The news comes when France, like other European neighbors, faces a resurgence of the coronavirus, with a new record of 8975 instances on Friday.
The French Open, held in the spring, will be the 3rd Grand Slam of 2020 and the moment since the start of the pandemic, the first being the US Open, which is now positioned without spectators.
Sports leagues have taken other paths back to the game, with MLB allowing travel between stadiums but not allowing spectators, battling epidemics, while the NBA and NHL have controlled to avoid all cases in their “bubble” environments in Orlando, Edmonton and Toronto.
“We need our tournament to be truly extraordinary and serve as an example, from each and every angle,” said Jean-Fran’ois Vilotte, general manager of the French Tennis Federation. “By set an example with our tournament, we hope that we can once again bring the economy back on track, even if it doesn’t need to be said that certain situations and restrictions will have to be respected. “
France, one of the countries most affected at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, led the government to introduce a strict blockade. He now ranks 13th in the world in cases shown with 367,095 and 7 in reported deaths with 30,732, according to Johns Hopkins. University. In total, there are 27. 2 million cases shown of the virus worldwide and 889,682 reported deaths.
The great story of the US Open is Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic, the no. 1 men’s player, who failed on Sunday after hitting a ball with anger and hitting a trial with a tap on his throat, making him the first Grand Slam since 2004 not to provide Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer in the semi-finals. Djokovic sparked controversy in June after hosting an exhibition tournament without social estating protocols and soon tested positive for Covid-19, along with several others who participated.
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