Postponement of the French Open - What will happen to Hamburg, Stuttgart and Co.?
Now it's official: the second Grand Slam tournament of 2021, the French Open in Paris, will take place a week later than planned. The new start date on May 30th, however, brings major problems for the following events.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Apr 08, 2021, 09:57 am
It had to be clear to every organizer, every player and every tennis fan that the 2021 tournament calendar in world tennis was knitted with a hot needle. But if the French Open is postponed by a week, as was confirmed on Thursday, several abysses will open up.
- First of all before the second major of the year: After Geneva and Lyon have also moved back by a week, there is now suddenly a gap after the tournament in Rome. Will the ATP find an organizer who will step in here at short notice? Hamburg has shown itself to be extremely flexible in the last year - but that rescheduling will take place so quickly must be considered very unlikely. Especially since it is not to be expected that viewers will be admitted in Germany at the beginning of May.
- Immediately after Roland Garros' original appointment, the lawn tournaments in Stuttgart, ´s-Hertogenbosch and Nottingham are scheduled. So stand would now take place parallel to the second week at the French Open. You can do it (see Kitzbühel last year), but there is also the risk that the lists of participants are not quite as attractive as actually planned.
- Second possibility: The tournaments affected are postponed by one to two weeks. For someone like Edwin Weindorfer, that would be a highly unattractive solution: In the middle week, his emotion is hosted by the women's tournament in Berlin. And in the last week before the event in Wimbledon, which already confirmed its main field start date on June 28, Weindorfer would compete with himself for a strong field: there is the ATP Tour 250 event, which is also supported by emotion planned in Mallorca.
- At least players who enter the clay court season later - namely Dominic Thiem and Roger Federer - could benefit from the postponement of the French Open. For the latter, however, the lawn is more important anyway. It is questionable whether Federer will even go to Paris at the later date. Thiem, on the other hand, could pack a few extra matches on ashes after his return to the tour.
Immediately after the decision of the French Open officials, the WTA and the ATP announced in a joint statement at least once that they would work closely with all parties involved. However, more specific updates are only expected in the coming days and weeks.