In a news bringing sigh of relief to tennis enthusiasts from all over the world,French Open offcials say that they are confident of the clay grand slam making a return to its traditional May-June timings in 2021.
Last year’s tournament was switched unilaterally from spring to September-October as the coronavirus sent the sport into a five-month suspension.
When the clay court showpiece was eventually staged, health protocols saw a daily limit of only 1,000 fans allowed onto the Roland Garros site.
French Open 2021-Working on maximizing the spectators limit
“Our desire is to be able, in accordance with the decisions of the government and with the extremely ambitious and rigorous application of a very well-crafted health protocol, to organise Roland Garros on the dates scheduled, from 17 May to 6 June (qualifying included),” said Amelie Oudea-Castera, the French Tennis Federation’s (FFT) new director-general.
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“With the highest possible number of spectators which will be allowed by the authorities.”
She added: “We are working on different scenarios. No idea is taboo, we want to achieve the best compromise between sports and health.
“The objective is to maximise the limit with regard to what the circulation of the virus and the progress of vaccinations will allow us to do.”
The French Open authorities would also be taking a leaf out of the Australian open organisers book,who were able to conduct a largely succesful grand slam event albeit with a few minor blips.
The Australian open saw strict quarantine protocols and even those were not enouh with a few covid positive cases occuuring inspite of the precautions.However,nearly all the matches saw a 50 percent attendance,except for a brief period in which there was a lockdown in Melbourne.
Rafa gearing up for the clay season
Rafael Nadal has a chance at a record-extending 14th French Open and record-breaking 21st Grand Slam. The clay-court season will always be at the heart of Rafael Nadal’s schedule until he retires, and this year is no different. Nadal had to pull out of Rotterdam 2021 with a back injury and will not play in Acapulco.
Otherwise, we can expect a similar line-up to previous Nadal campaigns as long as he remains fit. There is one addition of the Olympics in which the 2008 gold-medallist Spaniard has expressed interest. The Spaniard would love to repeat the 2008 feat in what may well be 34-year old’s last Olympics.
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