French Open tennis rescheduled amid coronavirus lockdown
Baku, March 18, AZERTAC
The French Open tennis tournament has been postponed until Sept 20 - Oct 4 amid the coronavirus outbreak, the organizers of the Grand Slam event said on Tuesday, according to France 24.
The first major tournament to be hit by the spread of the coronavirus was initially scheduled to be played from May 24 - June 7.
"In order to guarantee the health and safety of all those involved in the preparation of the tournament, the French Tennis Federation decided to organize the 2020 edition of Roland-Garros from September 20 to October 4, 2020," the French tennis federation said in a statement.
"While no one today can predict what the health situation will be like on May 18 (when qualifications were due to start), the lockdown measures in force make it impossible to prepare for it and therefore to organize it on the dates initially planned.”
A new roof on the main Philippe Chatrier court has already been installed but is not in service yet and needs more testing until the end of April, added officials.
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