Hard setback for Roland Garros. French Prime Minister Jean Castex confirmed on Thursday that the tournament will only be able to receive 1,000 fans each day. This news comes a week after the announcement of the tournament in which only 5,000 people a day would enter. The initial plan was to host 11,500 fans per day.
The last measure was confirmed by the French Prime Minister himself in France 2. “You have to ask the organizers if this means there will be no tournament. From the information they gave me, the answer is yes. I am not the organizer of Roland-Garros. In the same way that you are going to have football matches that are played behind closed doors”he commented.
Precisely the director of Roland Garros, Guy Forget, expressed his concern on Thursday about a possible further reduction in the capacity of spectators before the official confirmation who will be able to attend the tournament that begins on Sunday due to the additional restrictive measures provided in Paris and other cities.
Forget, in statements to the media, said he was restless and awaiting an announcement from the authorities about whether they can maintain the capacity of 5,000 spectators or will reduce it to 1,000, which is the new limit for shows and public events in the French capital from Saturday.
In an interview with the channel “BFMTV”, He defended maintaining the threshold established on September 17 of 5,000 people, which is already a figure much lower than 20,000 that had been initially anticipated, later lowered to 11,500.
“Welcoming 5,000 people in such a large space is absolutely safe”, He stressed after recalling that the Roland Garros complex occupies 12 hectares.
“It is a huge facility and we are outdoors”, clinched in another interview to the station “Europe 1”.
The director of the world's leading clay court tennis tournament, which begins on Sunday four months later than usual due to the coronavirus crisis, insisted on the idea that “It is safer to be at Roland Garros wearing a mask than to take the subway or go to college.”
The French Minister of Health, Olivier Véran announced on Wednesday a battery of measures to tighten restrictions to contain the spread of the epidemic, especially in areas where there are more infections and more sick people.
Paris and its metropolitan area are part of the eleven cities of the country located in the so-called “reinforced alert zone” in which, among other things, from Saturday it will not be possible to organize events with more than 1,000 people, instead of 5,000 previously authorized.