Week 40: the Roland Garros starts among doubts, fears and stars

After the end of the lockdowns and the resumption of the season, tennis never stops. In fact, after the US Open, the men's and women's Tours will come back in Europe for the clay-season, this year exceptionally in September and much shorter than the normal seasons.

After the Italian Open, finilly this is time for the Roland Garros 2020 (from 28 September to 11 October 2020), the 119th edition of the Open Era, on the clay-courts of Bois the Boulogne. This year, however, there are many doubts and threats regarding the tournament. The Global Pandemic of Covid-19 is spreading again throughout the country, necessitating new lockdowns and new health containment measures to further prevent the rise of infections.

For the French Open, in the summer, there were many hopes of getting the crowd back, but now, with the second wave of coronavirus, very problematic in Europe and particularly severe in France, everyone is wondering if it is right to play, and , above all, if it is just get the crowd involved. At least 11,000 spectators a day were expected in the summer, which increased to 5,000 towards the beginning of September. Now it could only be 1000: a somewhat grotesque situation. Crowds should not be present in Bois de Boulogne, as the health risk would be too high for everyone.

The stars and news of the Parisian Slam

The most important novelties of this edition are obviously the retractable roof on the Philippe Chatrier and the lights, which will allow you to play indoor matches in the evening session. There will be the conditions to play under the roof, and, so, indoor: what players could benefit of these new facilities? This will be a very unique edition, also because they will play in Autumn, and the weather predictions on Paris for the upcoming fortnight are not very good...

In the men's singles, there will be Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic, David Goffin, Matteo Berrettini and many other stars. There will obviously be Roger Federer, who will return for the Australian Open 2020 after the two surgeries on his right knee.

In the women's singles there will be Simona Halep, Serena Williams, Karolina Pliskova, Sofia Kenin, Elina Svitolina, Petra Kvitova, Garbine Muguruza, Angelique Kerber, Cori Gauff, Amanda Anisimova, Dayana Yastremska, Marketa Vondrousova and Sloane Stephens. Out Naomi Osaka, the defending champion Ashleigh Barty and Bianca Andreescu, who will come back in 2021.

This week (from September 28th to October 4th)  there will also be two ATP Challengers events: the Thindown Challenger Biella (Italy, on clay-courts) and the Split Open (Croatia, on clay-courts).

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/309B2UE