Roland Garros tournament director insists French Open won’t repeat Adria Tour mistakes

Roland Garros Tournament Director Guy Forget has assured fans that the French Open won’t make the same mistakes as organisers of the controversial Adria Tour, vowing they will be “really, really cautious”.
The Adria Tour, staged in the Balkans in June to raise funds for humanitarian projects in the region, didn’t have any social distancing measures in place as Serbia had limited coronavirus cases.
However, it was cancelled midway after several players, including organiser and world No 1 Novak Djokovic, Grigor Dimitrov and Borna Coric, and some non-playing staff tested positive for the Covid-19.
Several question marks have since been raised about whether or not tennis should resume in August, but French Open organisers are pushing ahead with plans to host the red dirt Grand Slam from September 27-October 11 with up to 60% of spectators allowed inside stadiums.
Forget, though, is confident Roland Garros will learn from the ill-fated event’s mistakes.
“Maybe some people were overconfident there,” he told Reuters.
“Luckily no one got hurt really bad but even a few cases is too much and we want to avoid that as much as we can.
“We want to reassure everyone that having people getting ill will be terrible for us. Let’s be really careful, really cautious.”
While the French Open will have some fans, the US Open will be a closed-doors event with strict health and safety protocols while players’ entourage will also be reduced.
Forget says French Open organisers have a little bit more “flexibility”.
“Luckily things are a bit more flexible in Europe and in France, especially,” he said. “Hopefully, what we’re going to announce will probably be even more flexible than what we did.”
Follow us on Twitter @T365Official.
Latest
-
Wimbledon
Wimbledon day two: Brits march on, ‘it’s just wow’ for Harmony Tan after Serena Williams win, Covid-19 fears
A look back at day two at Wimbledon.
-
Wimbledon
Serena Williams remains coy about her future after Wimbledon exit: ‘Who knows where I’ll pop up’
Will we see Serena Williams at Wimbledon again?
-
Wimbledon
Wimbledon TV, streaming info: How to watch Novak Djokovic, Emma Raducanu, Andy Murray matches
Your Wimbledon order of play, TV, streaming info.
-
Wimbledon
Katie Boulter salutes British team spirit after stunning Wimbledon success
Katie Boulter helped British players to their best Wimbledon first round return in a quarter of a century.
-
Wimbledon
What next for Serena Williams as she loses in the first round of Wimbledon?
Williams is facing fresh questions over her future in tennis after her much-hyped comeback ended with a first round defeat at Wimbledon
-
Wimbledon
Emma Raducanu hopes to make quick work of opponents in bid for home slam glory
The US Open champion takes on Caroline Garcia in round two on Wednesday.
-
Wimbledon
Alastair Gray thrills home crowd with remarkable grand slam debut victory
The world number 288 saw off the 2018 Wimbledon boys’ singles champion Tseng Chun-hsin.
-
Wimbledon
Wimbledon day two: A timeline of British triumphs
Eleven British players were in singles action, with six reaching the second round.
-
Wimbledon
Rafael Nadal gets a thorough workout in Wimbledon win
The Spaniard, 36, underwent radio-wave therapy on the nerve in his left foot earlier this month.
-
Wimbledon
Iga Swiatek: ‘I don’t consider myself a legend’
Swiatek surpassed Venus Williams’ record for most successive wins this century.