NewsDio Desk : It is the second time that the scourge of pandemic has affected the traditional schedule of French Open.
There has been an official announcement where the Grand Slam tennis tournament is going to be held a week later since there has been shocking cases of Coronavirus which have started to increase in France and elsewhere.
The president of French tennis federation has spoken about the much needed space which the postponement will give in terms of improving the health related situation while creating a conducive atmosphere towards welcoming the spectators.
He further spoke about the immense importance of the crowd’s presence in the tournament, as it is considered to be first event which will take place in the spring.
Earlier the French Open was slated for May 23rd, but now it is going to reschedule for May 30th.
The situation was no different last year as it was pushed to September, since the scourge of pandemic has made its deep effect. The spectators earlier were limited to 1000 last year on daily basis.
The Tennis authorities knowingly created further extension in the gap between the French Open and the beginning of Wimbledon to three weeks in 2015. This mechanism gave additional time to prepare for the game. However, as the delay has been confirmed now, the season is limited to two weeks.
The pandemic last year created irrevocable damage as Wimbledon was cancelled last year, due to the whole scenario as it is written in the history of the country right after World War 2nd, when such a thing has happened.
It is a well thought out strategy to delay the current year’s French Open as hospitals are literally full to their capacity due to rising cases.
In order to curtail the ever rising cases, there have been restrictions in the whole nation and the most obvious and prominent of them all is the three week school closure, shutting shops of non-essential items along with banning of domestic travel.
As per the reactions coming from French tennis federation, the decision has been greatly chosen with an eye to make maximum efforts towards creating a favorable situation so that the event can be played. This also includes the efforts to involve maximum number of spectators for bringing the same shine and charisma to maintain the glory of the game.
There has been an official statement from Grand Slam which supports the delay. However, not everyone seemed to be in support of the same where French tennis player Alize Cornet can be heard criticizing the sports minister for this step.
He further spoke about the sports minister who has taken such a disastrous step. He supported his claim by saying that the decision is quite a selfish one as the whole calendar year is going to be highly affected due to the decision of delay.
Australian Open was also delayed by three weeks this year, thanks to the ongoing pandemic and the associated restrictions imposed by quarantine has also taken its toll on how players used to perform before.