FFT President: plans underway for 12 courts to be lit by fall for 2020 edition

Bernard Giudicelli, the President of the French Tennis Federation (FFT), says that they are preparing to have 12 courts with lights for the 2020 edition of Roland Garros which he remains optimistic about holding in September.

Speaking on Stade 2 on Sunday, Giudicelli says, " We are working to welcome Rafa and the best players in the world in the fall. We are in preparation mode. We are working to accommodate the entire public, but today this seems very unlikely. Anyway, the organizational conditions we will be given by the government and there may be limited number of fans. If we arrive at this type of organization, we would be satisfied because the main thing is still the meeting between an audience and the champions. "

With reduced length of days at the end of September and early October, there may be some challenges for the organization but Giudicelli says his team is looking at all options, including lighting of additional courts and perhaps fine tuning the doubles event. "Will we have the full doubles tournaments? It needs to be fine-tuned. In terms of duration, we will be ready since we will have our four main courts lit, we will have four other outdoor courts lit and we work for light up four more by fall."

In an earlier interview, Giudicelli also said that the French Tennis Federation is in discussions with the governing bodies of tennis in order to confirm the actual date of the event - which is likely to be at the end of September. An updated calendar for the year could be released by mid-June.

Currently, all tennis tournaments till the end of July have been suspended by the ATP, WTA and ITF Tours.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3d6klOv