French Open hopes to avoid clash with US Open

The Director of the French Open, Guy Forget, has revealed that he is working hand in hand with tennis authorities to make sure the dates of the clay-court Grand Slam tournament do not clash with those of the US Open.

Tennis’ second major had originally been due to start on Sunday (June 24), but the coronavirus crisis forced organisers to postpone the start to September 20, one week after the scheduled final of the US Open in New York.

The French tennis federation has said it was in talks with the ATP, the WTA and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) over a revised calendar for the season.

Forget added that Flushing Meadows would make an announcement as to whether or not the Grand Slam will go ahead in June.
“The official announcement has not been made yet. It (the French Open) will probably be between the end of September and the beginning of October. We’ve been working closely with the ATP, the WTA and the ITF to make a global announcement on what the circuit will be like until the end of the year,” Forget told French radio Europe 1.

“There are so many question marks. The city of New York is more affected by the coronavirus than France. They also have a lot of organisation problems, they will make an announcement mid-June to say how it’s going to be like for the US Open,” he explained.

Forget is hopeful that conditions in Paris will be playable later in the year.
“We’ll see how the situation is in a couple of months. We will adapt to what the government will say. We have to be ambitious and optimistic,” he said.