French Open postponement: The tennis world has gotten out of joint
The power struggle is coming to a head: the unspoken postponement of the French Open in Paris is plunging the tennis scene into chaos.
by SID / tennisnet
last edit: Mar 19, 2020, 08:18 am
Roger Federer should be pretty upset. The Swiss maestro had the Laver Cup played in Prague for the first time in September 2017, an insignificant sporting tournament, of course one in which the best tennis players have so far enjoyed with great pleasure. The fourth, planned for Boston, the duel "Europe against the rest of the world" is now at risk: the French Open in Paris has been scheduled to take place at the same time since Tuesday.
The postponement of the world's most important clay court tournament between September 20 and October 4 caught the tennis scene cold - and plunged it into chaos. Only a week before, on September 13, the men's final, the normally last Grand Slam tournament of the year, the US Open, is to end. For Rafael Nadal, for example, this would mean that he would have to defend his two titles from 2019 within an insanely short period of time. "There is the problem that you have to play two slams within five weeks, which is hard for the top players to do physically," said tennis coach Jan de Witt - who is curious to see how the players will react.
"Stronger collaboration than ever before"
In the tennis world too, the corona pandemic turned all laboriously balanced plans into waste, but at the same time the decision by the organizers of Roland Garros made it clear: In the ongoing power struggle between the world association ITF, the player unions ATP (men) and WTA ( Women), tournament organizers or a Federer with his Laver Cup, everyone is next to himself, and everyone sometimes fights regardless of losses.
On Wednesday, however, the picture changed a bit - to the disadvantage of the Parisians. In a joint decision, the ATP and the WTA extended their game breaks until June 7 , so that the BMW Open in Munich will also be canceled. The current times "require all members of the tennis community to work together more than ever," the statement said. The organizers of Wimbledon, the Australian Open, the US Open and the ITF also shared the view. The organizers of the French Open were not mentioned.
Naomi Osaka: "Excusez moi ???"
Previously, the reactions of the players were clear. "Excusez moi ???", as please ???, tweeted the Japanese Naomi Osaka, winner of the Australian Open 2018 and US Open 2019. In fact, the decision surprised almost everyone concerned. "This is sick," said Vasek Pospisil , a member of the ATP board of the New York Times . The organizers' decision in Paris was "selfish", they played a "power play" and that was "pretty arrogant".
In a first reaction, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) did not rule out postponing its Grand Slam tournament, but stressed with a swipe at the French Open organizers: USTA would never make a decision like that alone, but instead they agree "with the other Grand Slam tournaments, the WTA and ATP, the ITF and our partners - including the Laver Cup". Wimbledon is currently scheduled for the US Open (from June 29).
Allegedly, the organizers of Roland Garros, who are heavily dependent on income due to huge investments in the Bois de Boulogne facility, only informed the twelve-time winner Nadal before their announcement - among other things, Federer was left out. His agency said that the French decision "raised many questions". And only so that it was clear: The Laver Cup should take place on the designated date (September 25th to 27th).